Firestick Theater
Firestick Theater: a reader asks…
My surround sound system doesn’t work with the firestick. But it works with the TV. Any ideas how the firestick can work with the surround sound system. Any ideas will be appreciated.
The Amazon Firestick is an amazing gadget for watching video of all kinds. It’s designed to plug into an available HDMI port on your flat-screen TV, but for folks with home theater setups, that can be less than satisfactory. After all, you’ve invested in a fancy home theater surround sound system, so you want to get the full audio experience! The trick here is to plug your Amazon Firestick into the the home theater system rather than directly into the TV. Here’s what you do:
First, you should have your surround sound speakers tied into a receiver/amplifier. This box usually has inputs for 2-5 HDMI devices like DVD players, cable boxes, etc. And it has one output with an HDMI cable going to your TV. And of course, cables going to your surround-sound speakers.
What you want to do is plug your Amazon Firestick into one of the receiver’s HDMI inputs. These are usually on the back of the receiver, although there may be one on the front, depending on your model. If there are only input ports on the backside of the receiver, then you’ll want to use the HDMI extender that came with your Firestick. Using the extender will also improve wireless reception to your Firestick since you can position it away from the other electronics that can block wi-fi signals.. If you’ve lost your HDMI extender cable, you can buy another from Amazon for $12 (order it here).
UPDATE: Many older receivers cannot send video from HDMI inputs to the receiver’s speakers, but only to the TV. Even if your receiver has HDMI inputs, you need to check the manual to see if they’re only ‘passthrough’ ports (to the HDMI output port). If you have an older receiver, then you need to plug the Firestick into an available port on your TV, and then run a digital optical or coaxial cable from the TV ouput ports to an available optical/coaxial input port on your receiver.
So you end up playing your Amazon Firestick through your home theater receiver just like you do your DVD player. The audio signal coming from the Firestick then goes to your surround sound speakers while the video signal goes to your TV. That gives you the bone-shaking bass coming from your sub-woofer, and you can hear that monster as he comes up behind you!
I should note that some older home theater systems (Bose, I’m looking at you), don’t have multiple HDMI ports, but only have analog video ports. These are RCA-type cables (a central pin with a round metal shield). If this is your situation, then you are not going to be able to solve this as simply. You’ll need another box to convert the digital signal from the Firestick to an analog signal to plug into the receiver. Fortunately, Amazon also sells such a box, you can order it here for $30. It comes with all the cables you need, but you’ll still need the Firestick and its extender cable in order to complete the setup. This converter box comes with clear setup instructions. The only problem is that this box is for the even-older analog standard that uses a single RCA cable for video and two RCA cables for audio (left and right). So before you order, check the backside of your home theater receiver to see what kind of jacks and ports it uses.
If you want to preserve a higher-quality component video signal, or if your home theater system only has component video jacks (3 cables for video, usually colored red, green and blue), then you’ll need an HDMI to 1080P Component Video (YPbPr) Scaler Converter, such as this one (you can get it on Amazon for $45). Please note this box doesn’t come with component video/audio cables, so you’ll need to buy them separately (like this set on Amazon for $6). That’s a total of 5 individual wires with jacks on the end, three jacks for video and two for audio.
In either case you’re going to plug your Firestick into the converter box, and plug the analog cables between the converter box and your home theater receiver. Both of the converter boxes I’ve mentioned above also have a small electrical plug (‘wall wart’) that’ll need to be connected to power the converter.
If your system is different, please give me some details in the comments below and I can give you a more specific answer. You should include the brand and model number of your surround-sound system.
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Author: Chris Gardner
Your Tech Coach at PosiTek.net
There are currently 1277 reader comments on published articles, care to join in? Use the Leave a Comment form below/at the bottom of any existing comments. This is a good place to ask follow-on questions on this subject.
Hi Chris,
I have a Denon AVR-4308CI – if I plug the firestick into one of the HDMI ports on the back, I get nothing. If I plug it into the hdmi port on the TV, I get video, but the audio is coming from whatever TV station I have on at the time. Not sure what I am doing wrong.
Ideally, I would love to get both audio and video from the AV receiver for surround sound, but if I can only get it from the TV, so be it.
Any advice is much appreciated – thank you!
HI Dana,thanks for your question! Your receiver’s online manual is at https://usa.denon.com/us/product/hometheater/receivers/avr4308ci. You have a very capable (and hence, complicated) receiver that can do just about anything you’d like. Most folks who buy this type of receiver pay a home theatre specialist to come and set everything up.
Your Denon is perfectly capable of handling the Firestick (when plugged into an HDMI in port on the back of the receiver). I’m just guessing here, but you may not have that HDMI port correctly assigned to the source you’re selecting, or you’re not selecting the right input source.
One other possibility is that you forgot to connect USB power to the Firestick. Your Firestick needs USB power (using the included wall wart power supply) as well as an HDMI connection to work.
When you plug the Firestick into the TV, you can of course get video from the Firestick. But without an audio cable (usually digital optical) going from the TV OUT port to the Denon’s IN port, you won’t get sound from the Firestick.
Likely you had the Denon’s source set to the cable box which is why you got TV station audio. In that situation, your TV and sound system are operating independently.
Forget about plugging the Firestick into the TV, you don’t need to. Your Denon receiver has these four HDMI ports: 1 (DVD), 2 (HDP), 3 (CBL/SAT, & 4 (DVR). I’m guessing you have your cable box plugged into HDMI 3, and possibly a DVD player into HDMI 1. And you should have your TV’s HDMI cable plugged into the Denon’s HDMI Monitor 1 port. If you try plugging the Firestick into HDMI 2 or 4, you’ll have to:
a. have that HDMI port mapped to a source you select on your remote or the Denon front panel controls (page 42).
b. select that input source on the Denon receiver/remote to get the video sent to the TV and the audio to play through your speakers (pages 39/40).
So if you plug the Firestick into HDMI 2 (HDP), you must select HDP as the input source on your remote. Then you’ll get Firestick video playing on the TV and Firestick audio coming from your surround sound speakers. The only reason this wouldn’t happen is if the HDMI 2 port was mapped to a different source (or none), or if the audio assignment for HDP was set to a different source. Note the diagram on page 42 shows the default HDMI assignments, whoever programmed your receiver may have made changes. I don’t know what all other components/equipment you are using, so I can’t tell you if/how you should change HDMI assignments. For other source assignments, see page 42 (middle) – you’ll see HDP doesn’t have an alternate assignment by default.
It really boils down to making sure that you select the correct input source on the Denon in order to send that source’s video to the TV and audio to the speakers. Sorry I can’t be more clear, but I’m mostly guessing here without seeing how everything is hooked up and configured.
Hi Chris,
First of all, thank you so much for your posts and for taking the time to reply to all of us!
I have been going through most of the comments and I haven’t found anybody asking about connecting the Fire TV with an Onkyo TX-SR606. I saw references to the model SR605, but I’m hoping the SR606 may have some advantages over the 605…
Can I connect my Fire TV with this receiver? My TV is a Sony Bravia KDL-55EX500. I have tried changing all configurations in both the Fire TV and the receiver. I’d like to be able to just plug it in one of my HDMI in my receiver and be able to watch and listen through it…
Thank you!!
HI JP, thanks for your comment. Your receiver’s online manual is at http://www.intl.onkyo.com/downloads/manuals/pdf/tx-sr606_manual_e.pdf and shows (on page 31) that audio signals coming from an HDMI input (like your Firestick) will be output through the system’s speakers when you have the HDMI input selected as the source (the video will be output to your TV via the HDMI Out port). So… Connect your Firestick to one of these HDMI ports on the Onkyo receiver and choose the corresponding source:
HDMI1 > DVD
HDMI2 > VCR/DVR
HDMI3 > CBL/SAT
HDMI4 > GAME/TV
Of course, if you changed setup configurations, then I can’t say what to do next, since I don’t know what you changed. I also don’t know what other components you have that might be using HDMI ports on the receiver. Page 43 of the manual shows you how to setup the HDMI input configuration and the default setup is as I showed you above.
For the Fire TV, if you set the audio on Automatic, then you’ll be just fine, the output will adjust to your receiver’s capability. I should note that if you change settings on the Fire TV, you might have to power-cycle the Onkyo receiver (turn it off and then back on) so that it can re-establish the communication protocol with the Fire TV.
And just in case, make sure that your Fire TV has both physical connections: HDMI to the Onkyo receiver, and electrical power (the included wall-wart power cable). You can use either wired Ethernet or Wi-Fi to connect to your home network (wired Ethernet is better, if available).
Hi Chris,
Sorry I did not respond sooner but I couldn;t try the connection until today. It still did not work, but I wanted to thank you very much for taking the time to answer my questions and looking for the intructions manual. I appreciate it!
Best
Hey Chris,
I have a Yamaha DPX-830 projector connected to Harmon Kardon AVR 147 receiver. I have picture but no sound when plugged into HDMI on receiver. Any suggestions? Thanks.
HI Rodney, thanks for your question. your Harmon Kardon receiver’s online manual is at http://pl.harmankardon.com/tl_files/catalog//harman-kardon/Home/Manuals/Audio%20Video%20Receivers/AVR%20142/Owner%27s%20Manual%20-%20AVR%20142%20(English%20EU).pdf.
Page 10 notes that HDMI inputs are for video only, you have to connect audio sources separately. I’m sure newer models of receivers don’t have this limitation. So your receiver isn’t capable of processing the Firestick’s audio signal directly.
What you need is an audio extractor box like https://www.amazon.com/Tendak-Optical-Extractor-Converter-Splitter/dp/B017B6WFP8.
Plug the Firestick into the extractor box, run an HDMI cable from the extractor box to a free HDMI input on the receiver, and run a digital optical audio cable from the extractor box to a free digital audio optical input port on the receiver. There are 2 of those input ports on your receiver, so choose one that’s not already in use.
If both optical input ports are already in use, you could use a different extractor box (like this one https://www.amazon.com/LinkS-Extractor-Support-Toslink-Converter/dp/B01AC6ZNIA) instead, and use a coaxial cable (really any RCA cable) to connect the extractor box to an available digital coaxial audio input port on the receiver.
Thanks for the info. In your opinion, which set up will provide the best sound?
Optical and coaxial transmit the same digital signal, just in different ways. So it doesn’t matter which, they’ll both give you full Dolby 5.1 sound.
Thanks! I’ll let you know how it turns out, after I make the changes.
Hi. I just bought an Amazon fire tv. I plugged it into an open HDMI on my onkyo tx-nr636, but the screen goes black after the Amazon boot screen. Tried on my sharp tv and vizio tv, same result. Unplug everything and replug, same issue. Every once in a while, it’ll let me scroll on the home screen for a few seconds before going black but once it goes black I can’t set settings or anything because I can’t see display. Also, works perfectly plugged directly into HDMI on either tv but no audio because I don’t have an optical cable to my onkyo. Why won’t the fire tv work with my current set up? Thank you.
Hi Josh, thanks for your comment. A quick look through the online manual at http://redirect.onkyousa.com/redirect_service.php?type=own_manuals&file=TX-NR636_ADV_En_29401761_140521.pdf shows some video troubleshooting steps starting on page 52. Have you gone through those? You have a highly capable receiver, such capability comes with more complexity. Have you tried a different HDMI input port on the receiver?
There could be a problem with HDCP which protects digital content from copyright violations. The Fire TV and your receiver have to “handshake” and exchange credentials to make sure they are both legal. Are you by chance using a Fire TV purchased from a different region of the world than the receiver? Are you power-cycling the equipment after you re-plug components? The handshake occurs when first powering on the devices.
There’s very little information in your comment so I can only make guesses as to what’s going on, both to the equipment configurations and connections as well as your proficiency in using your technology. It could be something very simple like not plugging the HDMI in all the way, or not using the correct power supply for the Fire TV. Or selecting the wrong video resolution on the receiver (see page 21). Or the wrong input source (see page 22). Did you install and configure your home theater system yourself or use a professional? Can I assume you connected the TV to the receiver with an HDMI cable, and that other components connected to the receiver work ok?
These are just some initial guesses, it’s impossible to diagnose a problem without a lot more information, sort of like a doctor trying to diagnose an illness without seeing the patient.
Thank you for your response. When I get home, I’ll look through the link you provided and troubleshoot more with it. Just to answer a few of your questions for clarification: I do have my tv connected to my onkyo via HDMI ARC ports on both. I did the set up myself 3 years ago (with different tv but the problem occurred before I switched tvs). I plugged the fire tv into the HDMI 3 port (STB/DVR) which I understand is HDMI 2.0 and HDCP 2.2, but I also tried it in HDMI 4 port (Game). The cable box that I have connected to the HDMI 1 port has no issues as well as the bluray player plugged into the HDMI 2 port. I am using the power cord that was included with the fire tv. I bought it from best buy and am unsure of the regional orientation of either it or the receiver. Thanks again for your time.
Ok, so Best Buy indicates that you are in the USA, that’s a big clue. Forget about the regional incompatibility, unless you ordered your receiver from overseas. Since you have other components hooked up to the receiver that work ok, I think it’s possible that your Fire TV is defective. I’d visit Best Buy and talk to the Magnolia Theater people about it, bringing the Fire TV with you. They can plug it into a system in the store and make sure it’s working ok, and perhaps there you can set the Fire TV to ‘auto’ for both video and audio. They can also give you advice (free!) on any other settings you need to make on your TV or receiver.
You can also go through the Fire TV troubleshooting page at https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/help/id=201452570. In particular, if you’ve got your TV set on 4k resolution, you’d temporarily change that to 1080p to see if you can see the Fire TV screen. To watch 4k through the receiver, you’d need to make sure that Fire TV, receiver and TV are all set to 4k video. See https://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html?nodeId=201859000.
There is a possibility that the HDCP handshaking isn’t working quite right, the best thing to do is turn on the receiver. Then turn on the Fire TV and set the receiver to use that HDMI port. Then turn on the TV. That way your Fire TV and receiver ‘shake hands’ first, followed by your receiver and TV ‘shaking hands’. That order of power-up might overcome the problem (if it’s an HDCP problem).
Another option is to plug the Fire TV directly into a TV (so you can get to its menu), and then make sure that all the Fire TV settings are correct. Again, if you’re trying for 4k streaming, you need to make settings changes, specifically making sure the video setting is on ‘auto’.
If all else fails, you can get the Best Buy Magnolia theater guys to come out and troubleshoot, but I’d first try to get them to exchange the Fire TV for another one. it may very well be a lemon unit.
Thanks again.
Well, I’m downloading manuals from here
Hi Jany, most manufacturer manuals can be downloaded from their support websites, so that’s the first place I look. If the manufacturer doesn’t make online manuals available, then I check https://www.manualslib.com/. Thanks for the reference, if I can’t find a manual at either of those places, then I’ll check your source.
Hi Chris.
I have a Yamaha RX-V557 receiver attached to a HD Mitsubishi TV and cable box, with the audio running from the Yamaha receiver to a Bose surround sound system. I just bought the Amazon Fire Stick and plugged it into the HDMI port in the TV and it seems to work fine, except the sound is just coming through the small TV speakers and I can’t get the audio to go through the surround sound system. I checked the back of the Yamaha receiver and I don’t think it has any HDMI ports. What do you suggest? By the way, I am not at all tech savvy, and this is a real challenge for me.
Hi Harry, thanks for your question. You have to create a path for the digital audio to go from the Firestick to your speakers. So it’s in 3 parts:
1. Firestick to Mitsubishi TV
2. Mitsubishi TV to Yamaha RX-V557
3. Yamaha RX-V557 to Bose Surround Sound System
By plugging in the Firestick to the TV, you’ve accomplished #1 and by connecting your Yamaha audio output to your Bose system you’ve accomplished #3. What you’re missing is #2. I’m going to have to fudge a bit since you neglected to tell me the model number of your Mitsubishi TV, but here’s what you need to do:
Connect a digital audio cable from the Mitsubishi TV’s Digital Audio OUT port to one of the Yamaha receiver’s Digital Audio IN ports.
The type of cable you use depends on a) what type of port is on your Mitsubishi TV and b) what available ports there are on your Yamaha receiver. There are two types of digital audio ports/cables:
1. Coaxial: This is very similar to the component video or analog audio type of cable/port with an RCA jack (round outer circle with an inner tube).
2. Optical: The port is squarish with a shutter cover over it, the plug is a squarish plug with a round tip.
Your Yamaha receiver (looking at an online photo) shows your receiver has one coaxial and 3 optical digital audio input ports (on the left-side looking at the back of the receiver). You may be using one or more of these already with your Cable box and any other components.
Once you’ve made the audio connection from TV to receiver, set the receiver’s source to the digital port that’s connected to the TV and you should be good to go.
Thank you very much for your prompt response and clear explanation Chris.
Chris: I have checked and our Mitsubishi TV is model LT-46246. I do not see any square optical ports on the back of the TV, but I do see a single digital audio output port and nothing is plugged into that, so that should be available. Also on the back of the Yamaha receiver there is nothing plugged into the coaxial digital audio input port (on the left-side looking at the back of the receiver), so that should be available as well. So I assume that means I should connect a cable between those two ports. What type of cable in particular would you recommend for this (preferably something I could order on Amazon)? Also does this mean I need just one cable to connect between the TV and the receiver? Thanks for you help.
Your TV’s manual is at https://www.mitsubishi-tv.com/asset/file/owners_guide/LT-40148.pdf and shows on page 9 the sole digital audio output, which is a coaxial type of port (#11). That matches up with your Yamaha receiver’s coaxial input port (bottom-left of the back). You only need one cable to connect these two ports. Such as this one: https://www.amazon.com/AmazonBasics-Digital-Audio-Coaxial-Cable/dp/B01D5H8UTW which comes in various lengths (4-25 feet) to meet your needs. The 8-foot one is $6.50.
In a pinch, you could use any cable you have that has RCA jacks on the end. Even half of the standard red/white analog audio cables would work (red to red or white to white). But for best results, get yourself a coaxial audio cable.
The coaxial cable has the same wiring as a standard RCA cable, what matters is the audio signal that’s passed through it. Analog audio is only 2-channel (1 channel per cable, hence the red/white combo cables), while coaxial sends digital audio (in full HD/DTS/5.1 surround sound). Also, the coaxial cables are shielded so you won’t get interference like regular RCA cables.
I very much appreciate your quick answers and help with this Chris. I ordered the cable and look forward to getting this set up now, which I never could have done without your guidance.
My pleasure to help!
Chris: I just wanted to let you know that I set up the system with the cable connection as you suggested and it works great now. Thanks again for you prompt and clear advice.
I have a an LG Plasma 60PV400-UV and a Samsung J5500W. Apparently there is only one port in the back of the bluray player and it is an output. We currently have our Firestick plugged into our TV and our Surround system is so good we would like to figure out how to get it to go through the bluray or find a way to have surround? Any suggestions?
Hi A.J., thanks for your question. Your Samsung surround sound system’s manual is online at http://downloadcenter.samsung.com/content/UM/201504/20150422110521531/HT-J5500W-ZA_AH68-02771A-00ENG-20150421-Bookmark.pdf and shows that there is a digital optical audio input port on the back (picture on page 7). Your TV’s manual is online at http://www.lg.com/us/support-product/lg-60PV400 and shows that there is an optical digital audio output port on the back (picture on page 11). All you need to do is connect a digital audio cable from the TV to the Samsung and you’re good to go.
You can get a digital optical audio cable at Amazon (https://www.amazon.com/AmazonBasics-Digital-Optical-Audio-Toslink/dp/B00NH11H38) for less than $6.
Hi Chris,
I have a challenging one for your here.
I have an Onkyo 3010 fire stick. I’ve tried almost every option under the sun but just can’t get the FS to work via the AVR. I get no sound or picture.
Currently I have the Fs connected to the Game 2 hdmi port on the AVR and appropriate Game 2 set when the AVR comes on. I have the TV set to HDMI 1.
When everything is on, all I get on the tv is a blue screen and no picture or sound from the fire stick. The Onkyo’s on-screen menus do show though which shows an AVR signal is coming through. Just nothing from the firesick!
Ive tried all the hdmi ports on the AVR and none of them show picture or sound.
The fire stick works fine when connected to the tv though. But then I don’t get sound from the AVR speakers.
Can you work some magic for me please?
Hi Alps, thanks for your question! I think you meant an Onkyo TX-NR3010 receiver, if so the online manual is at http://www.intl.onkyo.com/downloads/manuals/pdf/tx-nr3010_5010_manual_e.pdf. I’m going to assume that you have other HDMI components connected to the receiver and that they work ok, but not the Firestick (in any HDMI input port – you have 8).
I have seen sometimes folks complain about a blue screen instead of video, and that can be a situation where the Firestick, Onkyo receiver and TV have not exchanged the necessary digital rights management credentials to allow for playback. This is especially the case when you’re plugging and unplugging components without powering down and back up the receiver and TV.
So give this a try. With everything turned off, plug in the Firestick to the Onkyo receiver. Turn on the receiver and set it to the HDMI port the Firestick is using. Now turn off the Onkyo receiver. Click a control on the Firestick to make sure it’s awake and running. Turn on the Onkyo receiver, then turn on the TV. That should obviate any DRM issues.
If nothing else works except plugging the Firestick into the TV, you can always run a digital audio cable from TV to receiver and play the sound through the receiver that way.
Hi Chris,
Thank you very much for such a speedy reply. And yup, it is the Onkyo TX-NR3010.
I’ll give your suggestion a try this weekend when I’ll have more time and energy to do things right. When you say “turn off” do you mean put it in stand-by mode? Or do you mean turn off at the mains?
Unfortunately, the digital audio cable from TV to receiver is not an option for me as rather stupidly I have all my AV equipment under the stairs in the hallway and I have run all my cables through the ceiling! Oh how I regret that choice!!!
Hope it works for you, and yes, stand-by mode.
Hi Chris, I couldn’t wait till the weekend so gathered some energy and gave your suggestion a try. Unfortunately it didn’t work.
I had an after thought though. As my AV equipment is in the hall way under the stairs, I’m using an HDBase T http://store.aclasstechnology.com/hdcp-22-hdbaset-extender-set—70m-4k-up-to-40m-bi-directional-ir-bi-directional-poh-poe-1691-p.asp to use HDMI. Would this equipment have an impact on the FS not working via the AVR?
Ahh, another clue, and yes, it’s entirely possible that something to do with the extender cable is not passing the DRM handshaking. The link says the device is HDCP 2.2 compliant. One interesting change with version 2.2 (over older standards 2.0 and 2.1) is a “locality check.” The source sends a signal to the “sink”, and if the sink doesn’t get that signal within 20ms, the source kills the connection. It’s possible that the conversion of the DRM handshaking is taking too long, and so the connection is stopped by your equipment, ostensibly to prevent you from watching pirated, copyrighted content. I get that you’re not doing that, but when they design this equipment, they don’t necessarily expect non-standard installation scenarios, such as yours.
I wish you had put an extra cable run in when you did your cable runs. That would have made it easy to run a digital optical cable from TV to receiver, and is the simplest solution. I’m assuming that it’s not feasible for you to make another cable run? Could you use a “fish tape” (like this one: https://www.amazon.com/Gardner-Bender-EFT-21PN-Weight-Patened/dp/B000BP7WBO) to draw a cable through?
If not, then another possible option would be using wireless audio gear to send the output from the TV’s digital audio out to the receiver. This would be something like this: https://www.amazon.com/TaoTronics-Bluetooth-Transmitter-Receiver-Wireless/dp/B01KO1JNCA and you’d need two of them, one to transmit the digital audio signal from the TV OUT and one to receive the digital audio signal and pass it into the receiver. Unfortunately, I can’t guarantee this will work because of the same possible DRM handshaking concerns. But this has a better chance since it’s designed to be used to wirelessly connect headphones to your audio source, so hopefully the DRM issue is moot. I’d certainly research this yourself before you plunk down money.
And yes, we’re grasping at straws here, your situation is unique and quite uncommon. So there’s not a lot of chatter on the internet. One good source is http://www.hdtvsupply.com/hdmi-problems.html – and you’ll read there about other things to try, like de-powering devices > unplugging them > blowing air into the HDMI cables and ports > replugging and re-powering. The order you re-power devices can be critical to getting a good connection (Firestick first, then receiver, then your balun Cat5 device, then your TV).
Hi Chris
My name is Paola .. Im have been reading most of your comments and trying very hard to figure out how to connect my new FireTvstick to our system. We have an excellent system between TV Fujitsu model # P42VHA20U and AV Receiver Yamaha model # RX-V2300. I did order an HDMI to AV converter box (the one that you recommend on your comments) and no luck. I tried all possible scenarios(I used the DVD, TV, VCR1, AUX ) but there is not video/sound…. The TV and the receiver do not have HDMI ports. They have the RCA? red, white and yellow connections. ,,What do you think I’m doing wrong? I appreciate any help 🙂
Hi Paola, I don’t know which HDMI to AV converter box you purchased, there are over a dozen in the comments. I went through the comments trying to figure out which you might have bought, but none of them fit your situation. The only possible box that might work for you is the one I suggested in the body of my article (the Zamo Component-Scaler-Converter) which has an HDMI input (to plug the FireStick into), and component video outputs (red, green and blue RCA cables), and a coaxial digital audio output. But that’s not really the best solution for you as I’ll explain below.
Your TV and receiver have three types of video inputs: Component (three RCA cables red, green and blue), S-Video (single multi-pronged cable) and composite (single yellow RCA cable). Those are listed in order of quality from best (component) to worst (composite). You really don’t want to use anything less than component video cables to connect with your FireStick, as component can pass HD video while both S-video and composite only pass standard definition video.
Your receiver accepts two types of digital audio input: optical digital cable and coaxial digital cable. They both deliver the same quality Dolby 5.1 audio. Since your receiver is capable of using optical digital audio, I suggest you use a different converter box: https://www.amazon.com/Universal-Premium-Quality-Component-Converter/dp/B017LVMAWG which has an optical output port.
You don’t list what other equipment you’re using and how you have things hooked up, so I’m doing some guessing here, but if you connected the component video cables from the above converter box to available component inputs on either the TV or the receiver, you could then view the FireStick video on the TV simply by choosing the correct input source (on either TV or receiver). The input source you select must match the named jacks to which you plugged the three cables into.
Let’s cover the video part of the equation first:
I’m looking at the manuals online at https://www.manualslib.com/manual/197521/Yamaha-Rx-V2300.html and https://www.manualslib.com/manual/246697/Fujitsu-Plasmavision-P42vha10w.html since neither Yamaha nor Fujitsu have their manuals available online directly.
Plug one end of the 3 component video cables into the above converter box, and the other end into either receiver or TV:
1. The Yamaha manual page 19 shows a graphic of the back-side receiver ports. You have two available component video inputs (marked DVD and CBL/SAT), use either one.
2. If both are in use, you could plug the component video cables directly into the TV. Page 8 of that manual shows two sets of component video inputs (3 RCA jacks each set, numbers 13 and 10 on the manual graphic). Likely one is already in use coming from the receiver.
Now choose the video input source (either on receiver or TV) to match the ports you used when connecting the converter box. You’ll then get video on the TV from the FireStick.
Now for the audio part:
You want to connect an optical digital audio cable from the converter box to your receiver. The above box has an optical output which uses a TosLink cable coming from the converter box to one of the optical audio input ports on the receiver (see page 19’s graphic of the backside of the receiver, there are four ports (numbered 3, 4, 5 & 6).
If you plugged the above video cables into the component DVD ports on the receiver, plug the TosLink cable into the DVD (#5) input port on the receiver. Set your receiver’s source input to DVD and your Firestick will play video to the TV and audio to the receiver’s speakers. If you used the CBL/SAT video ports, use the matching audio input (#6) for the TosLink cable, and set the receiver’s source input to CBL/SAT.
If you plugged the video cables directly into the TV, plug the TosLink cable into the CD (#3) or CD-R (#4). Set the TV’s source input to the matching input (of the converter box cables) and set the receiver to the input source (CD or CD-R). Then you can watch the FireStick through the TV and hear it through the speakers.
Hi Chris…. Thank you soooo much for your fast response.. you don’t have an idea how much you are helping me….I just order the box that you suggested and I also order BlueRigger 5-RCA component video and audio cable … Wish me good luck.. I’ll let you know the results … Thank you again 🙂
Glad to help. But you’ll need a Toslink cable as well for the audio, you don’t want to use the stereo audio parts of the cable set you ordered.
Chris… Success …. I follow all your instructions ( I did have an extra Toslink cable -not need to order) we are now watching tv w/FireTVstick (very good quality video) and with excellent sound coming thru the yamaha receiver…Thank you so much for your help …I’m very happy that we still can use our old (still good system) with the fireTVstick… thank you very much you are a genius 🙂
I’m glad you got to a good solution, thanks!
Hi Chris,
I have the newest generation Firestick which has Kodi software in it. The firestick works fine when connected to my Samsung UN55F7500AF with sound coming out of the tv speakers. My Samsung is hooked up to a Denon AVR-2113CI for surround sound. When I connect the firestick directly to the denon (hdmi) I get no sound and no picture.
Appreciate an help you can provide.
Thanks
Ron
Hi Ron, your Denon manual is online at https://usa.denon.com/us/product/hometheater/receivers/avr2113ci (the zip file) shows no reason why the HDMI input wouldn’t put out video to the HDMI-connected TV, and audio out the surround sound speakers as long as you have the correct input source selected.
What you’re probably experiencing is a failure of the digital rights management handshaking signals that must be exchanged between the devices before they will work. This is most often solved by turning everything off, plugging the Firestick into an HDMI input port on the receiver, turning on the receiver and pressing a Firestick remote button to turn on the Firestick, then turning on the HDMI-connected TV. When you switch input sources between various HDMI inputs, the DRM handshaking might not occur correctly.
Of course, I can’t speak for the impact Kodi software might have on the situation. If you purchased the Firestick from a 3rd party who installed the Kodi software, you might have to contact them to resolve any issues. Amazon (of course) won’t help you when you use the Firestick outside of their warranty-covered usage (which Kodi sideloaded is btw).
Chris,
I believe the kodi is not an issue since it works fine with a direct Tv connection. I’ll give that sequence a try and let you know.
Thanks very much.
Ron
Hi Chris,
Thanks for this terrific resource.
I have a Yamaha HTR- 6230 receiver and a Panasonic Viera TC-P55ut50-2 plasma TV. I also have a PS4 which is running an optical audio cable successfully between itself and the receiver. With the Amazon Fire stick replacing my cable box (which was running audio between itself and the receiver via a monster cable), I tried putting the fire stick directly in the back of the receiver’s HDMI port and running an HDMI cable to the TV which brought great picture but no sound. Similarly, I’ve tried putting the fire stick in the back of the TV’s HDMI port (1 of 2) which also brought great picture and no sound.
I hear this old Yamaha receiver doesn’t receive HDMI audio? I might be describing that incorrectly, but essentially- that it takes only the video from the HDMI cables? If so, what do I do? There are two optical cable ports in the receiver but I don’t know how to reconcile all of it.
Thanks!
ian
Hi Ian, your receiver’s manual is online at https://usa.yamaha.com/files/download/other_assets/5/319985/HTR-6230_manual.pdf and your Plasma TV’s at ftp://ftp.panasonic.com/television/om/tc-p60ut50_en_om.pdf
If you’ve perused the article and the many comments and follow-on questions you’ll see that when folks plug the Firestick into a TV, they have to plug a digital audio cable from the TV to the receiver in order to get sound.
Page 11 of the receiver’s manual says that HDMI video and audio input is only passed to the TV. The audio is not split and sent to the speakers. So you have two ways you can connect the Firestick to your system and get video to the TV and audio to the receiver’s speakers:
1. Connect the Firestick to the TV and run a Digital Optical audio cable from the TV’s Digital Audio OUT port (see the connector on page 11 of the TV’s manual) to the receiver’s Digital Audio IN port (see the two available connectors on page 6 of the receiver’s manual). All you need for this is a digital audio cable like this one: https://www.amazon.com/AmazonBasics-Digital-Optical-Audio-Toslink/dp/B00NH11H38 for $6.
2. Connect the Firestick to an audio extractor box, and run both an HDMI cable to one of the receiver’s HDMI IN ports and a digital audio cable from the audio extractor box to one of the receiver’s Digital Audio IN ports (see page 6 of the receiver’s manual), and also run. For this you’d need an audio extractor box like this one https://www.amazon.com/Tendak-Optical-Extractor-Converter-Splitter/dp/B017B6WFP8 for $30, an HDMI cable like this one https://www.amazon.com/AmazonBasics-High-Speed-HDMI-Cable-Standard/dp/B014I8SSD0 for $7 and the same Digital Optical Audio cable as #1 for $6.
Option #1 is much less expensive, but may involve more remote juggling to switch between components (TV remote and receiver’s remote). Since you have an older receiver which was really not designed to be a central hub for multiple components, you might want to consider a 3rd or 4th option – just to make the remote juggling less.
3. get a programmable universal remote control like the excellent Logitech Harmony 650 or outstanding but expensive Harmony Elite (read about them at https://positek.net/messed-up-remotes/). This could cost you $80-300.
4. use option #2 above, but get a combination switch/extractor box like this one https://www.amazon.com/Tendak-Switcher-Selector-Extractor-Splitter/dp/B01HM1RP6G for $40 and plug all your components into it. Run the HDMI video either through the receiver to the TV or directly to the TV, and run the optical audio to the receiver. Then you only have to turn the TV & receiver on, and just use the splitter box’s included remote to switch between components (plug the Firestick, your PS4, cable box and any other component into the splitter box instead of directly into TV/receiver). You’d set the receiver and TV to use the input source from the splitter box and not have to change them.
So lots of options from the cheapest to ones that ease the use of your system.
Chris this is fantastic, thank you!
I’m gonna get to work and try some of the options you’re proposing (leaning towards the HDMI converter as the first thing to do).
I’ll loop back around soon to let you know how it turned out!
Thank you!
Hello. How do I connect my SONY LCD TV to my old Sony STR-DE485/DE485E receiver? I would like the TV/cable box/PS3 and Firestick to all have surround sound through my speakers. Thanks.
HI Brian, thanks for your question. You didn’t give me the model number of your TV, and didn’t tell me exactly how you have things hooked up, so I’m doing some guesswork here.
I’ll assume you’ve got all your components connected via HDMI to your TV. I’m going to guess your TV has a digital audio output port. So all you need to do is connect a digital audio cable from that output port to your receiver’s input port.
Digital audio ports come in 2 flavors, optical and coaxial. Fortunately, your receiver can take either (according to the diagram at https://docs.sony.com/release/specs/strde485spec.pdf), so choose the cable type based on your TV’s output port.
You’ll need either an optical cable like this one: https://www.amazon.com/AmazonBasics-Digital-Optical-Audio-Toslink/dp/B00NH11H38 for $6 or so,
or a coaxial cable like this one: https://www.amazon.com/Mediabridge-ULTRA-Digital-Audio-Coaxial/dp/B00FMZX5RI for $6 or so.
Hi Chris,
I have a Bose lifestyle 28 series and a Bose VS 2 enhancer. All this is connected to my Optomo Projector. So basically no TV. I have purchased Amazon firestick and have connected the Hdmi input to VS 2 enhancer but I only get video and no audio. As the lifestyle series I have is an older version and does not have HDMI input or output. How do I get the audio. Should I purchase the Hdmi to AV converter and plug the the cables to my bose lifestyle series. Will that work? Or should I go in for HDMI INPUT and output plus the AV converter where I connect the firestick to Hdmi input and hdmi output cable to input of VS 2 enhancer and the rca cables to bose lifestyle series. Please help me as I am confused. Even the Bose customer service has not provided any help regarding this.
Hi Karishma, thanks for your question. Your situation is similar to another commenter above, in that you don’t have a true home theater receiver system that can deal with multiple digital components easily. Furthermore, your Bose VS 2 enhancer is a video box only designed to work with video signals. In order to get audio from your Firestick to your Bose, you’ll need to get an audio extractor box like this one: https://www.amazon.com/Tendak-Optical-Extractor-Converter-Splitter/dp/B017B6WFP8.
1. Plug the Firestick into the extractor box
2. Run an HDMI cable from the extractor box to the Bose VS 2 enhancer. Plug it into the same HDMI input port you were using for the Firestick.
3. Run a digital optical audio cable from the extractor box (SPDIF OUT) to your Bose media center (OPTICAL IN).
Hi Chris. Help is needed and this page has been absolutely wonderful on so many topics, and now its my turn to ask a question 🙂
I have:
Bose Solo 5 TV Soundbar
Epson PowerLite Home Cinema 2045 Projector
Sony Blueray Player (I think its BDPS1700)
Amazon Firestick
(I do not have a cable box)
My Goal:
To have sound come out of the Bose Solo 5 when using the player (blueray or regular dvd) or using the firestick
Problem:
I have visual when using a regular dvd in the player and when using the firestick but have no audio on either.
(I have not yet tried with a blueray in the player)
(From reading your blog I have learned that plugging the firestick into the projector will not allow audio)
My Best Guess:
a HDMI Splitter with Audio extractor Optical audio converter?
Thank you so much for your time.
-Dallas
Hi Katharine, thanks for your comment. I think your situation is that you are attempting to create a home theater system with component parts, but without a receiver. The receiver is the device that powers a home theater system – you plug all your components into it, and it delivers video to the TV and audio to attached speakers (either surround sound or you could use your SoundBar). A receiver is the ‘heart’ of a home theater system, without it you have to jury-rig things to get it all to work.
In your case, you have one video output (the projector), and one audio output (the Soundbar). You have multiple input sources (blu-ray player, Firestick). Since your projector has two HDMI inputs, you could plug both input sources into the projector for the video part of the equation. But your Soundbar only has one optical (or coaxial) audio input, so you can’t plug both into the Soundbar for audio.
You need something that you can plug your two input sources into and which you can use to switch between them to both view and listen to each of the input sources. Short of buying a home theatre receiver, here’s what I’d recommend:
Get an HDMI switch with digital audio out (such as https://www.amazon.com/Tendak-Switcher-Selector-Extractor-Splitter/dp/B01HM1RP6G for $37). Plug both the Firestick and the Sony player into that using the HDMI ports. Run one HDMI cable from the HDMI switch (output port) to one of the projector’s HDMI input ports. Run a digital optical cable (aka TosLink) from the HDMI switch (optical output port) to the Soundbar’s optical input port.
Now set your projector to the HDMI input you used above and don’t change it. Use the HDMI switch’s remote control to switch between the Firestick and the blu-ray player. You’ll have two additional HDMI input ports on the switch for future expansion if you decide to get another input source (Roku, Apple TV, cable box, etc.).
That gives you a lot of remotes to fiddle with, but you can program the universal remote that came with the Soundbar to handle most/all of these functions:
1. the projector’s remote (to turn the projector on and off only)
2. the HDMI switch’s remote (to switch between Firestick and blu-ray player only)
3. the Sony Blu-ray player’s remote (to play discs, pause, fast-forward, etc.)
4. the universal remote (to adjust the volume)
I have purchased the receiver as noted above and am receiving video but am still not receiving audio.
Current set up:
Projector hdmi port to – receiver output/arc
Firestick in the receiver port 1
Toslink cable from receiver to Bose
-firestick audio setting is set to Dolby digital over hdmi
Receiver setting is set to hdmi 1
THANK YOU!
Ok, it sounds like you have everything connected and setup ok (to the switch, which is not a receiver btw). Simple things to check are that the Bose SoundBar is plugged into electric power and is turned on, that the SoundBar volume isn’t set all the way down, and that the power supply that came with the HDMI switch is plugged in so that the switch is getting electrical power.
It’s possible that your optical cable came with covers over the ends which you need to remove before plugging the ends into the switch and Bose Soundbar. See the picture at https://www.bose.com/en_us/support/article/no-audio-using-an-optical-cable.html. Or you may not have the optical cable plugged in all the way (there should be a click when it’s fully inserted).
Also on the HDMI switch, the ARC button should not be on. ARC is only for specially designed televisions. The switch’s audio button should also be set to 5.1.
One other thing to try is to change the Firestick audio settings to the first option (…automatic). You might have to power cycle (turn the power off then on again) to the Firestick, switch box and Soundbar.
Everything has been double checked as you listed. Everything has power, not on mute, and is plugged in correctly.
Arc is off.
5.1 is on. (I also randomly tried it with 5.1 off and it does not work either)
I have confirmed the toslink cable works on another setup however the cable does not work to get sound here. I also switched to coaxial and that did not produce sound either.
I changed the setting for the audio in the firestick and powered everything down, and back up.
I have visual but no audio out of the bose.
What to do next? Thanks!
I have a few more tips and guesses, but it may be that someone needs to physically look at your setup and all connections to discover the actual problem. It could be something as simple as:
1. not having the Toslink cable fully plugged in (it should click into place) or
2. having the volume on the Bose turned all the way down (mute/unmute doesn’t affect this)
Or something more complicated, such as a broken Toslink port on the Bose (or other malfunction of the Bose system).
Looking back at your Sept 1 response, you don’t mention having the Sony Bluray player plugged into the Tendak switch, so I don’t know if you’ve tested that to see if it works. Assuming it doesn’t work, this points to a problem with the Bose system (or connection to it using either the optical or coaxial cable). You also don’t mention if you ever had the Bose working (with some other setup). So I can’t know if the system actually works or not. You could test the Bose system by plugging in an MP3 player or smartphone to the Bose’s AUX input and seeing it it can play music.
I am limited strictly by what you tell me and there are so many other variables about your situation which you haven’t told me that I can’t know about. This is a common issue with trying to solve problems without a hands-on diagnosis. Imagine asking your doctor to diagnose an illness you have without letting him see you, and without the benefit of a ton of information about your symptoms. It’s the same here.
One other thing I just though of: The Bose has three input plugs, an AUX (for 2-channel stereo inputs), a TosLink/Optical, and a Coaxial. You can (and should) only use one of these at a time. Plugging cables into more than one input can cause problems if you have more than one of the components powered up. Only one connected source should be powered on at a time.
If none of the above resolves your issue, then I think you need to seek the help of a repair tech who can come to you and look at the system and setup you have. There’s no substitute for physical diagnosis.
Hi Chris. I am also having the same problem as everyone else. I plugged the Firestick into my TV but only get TV sound and not surround sound. I will likely need a converter since my receiver is pretty old. I’m just not sure which converter to buy. I have an old Harman Kardon AVR 130 receiver that is connected to an old Bose surround sound system. The receiver has no HDMI ports to plug the Firestick into. My TV is a 7000 series Samsung. Which converter should I buy to get the surround sound to work? Thanks so much!
Hi Laurie, thanks for your question. Your Harmon Kardon AVR 130 receiver has two optical input ports on the back (see the Digital Input area in the image at https://www.fein-hifi.de/images/product_images/original_images/avr130klapg.jpg).
If you have no other HDMI components and aren’t planning on expanding, then you can use a simple extractor box like this one: https://www.amazon.com/Tendak-Optical-Extractor-Converter-Splitter/dp/B017B6WFP8 for $27.
You’ll also need an HDMI cable and a Toslink (SPDIF) digital optical cable.
Plug the FireStick into the extractor box’s HDMI IN port. Run an HDMI cable from the extractor box’s HDMI OUT port to your TV’s HDMI IN port. Run a digital optical cable from the extractor box’s SPDIF OUT port to one of your receiver’s Optical IN ports. Set your receiver to the Optical IN source and turn the TV’s sound down.
If you want to ensure you can add more HDMI components in the future, don’t get a simple extractor box but get a combo switcher/extractor box like this one https://www.amazon.com/Tendak-Switcher-Selector-Extractor-Splitter/dp/B01HM1RP6G for $40. That lets you plug up to 4 HDMI components in.
I hope you are using one of your receiver’s digital output ports (optical or coaxial) to plug into the Bose sound system. Or direct wires using the receiver’s speaker wires (and subwoofer pre-out). Using twin RCA (red & white) cables from one of the other audio outputs won’t give you surround sound, only 2-channel, analog stereo sound.
Wow, Chris. This article and comment thread is amazing. You are helping a ton of people. Hopefully you can help me as well. Here is my components, set-up and my issue:
Sony Bravia KDL-46XBR2 TV
Fire TV
Yamaha RX-V659 A/V Receiver
Samsung DVD
Set-up: My TV has 3 HDMI. HDMI IN (1) goes to my Fire TV. HDMI IN (2) goes to my DVD player. HDMI IN (3) is empty right now. I have a cable running from my TV (“Video IN S-Video”) to my Yamaha Receiver “S-Video Out.” I have “Digital/Optical OUT” from my TV to my Yamaha Receiver “Digital Output Optical MD/CD-R.” I have “Coaxial Digital Audio” going from my DVD to my Yamaha Receiver “DVD Coaxial Digital Input.” I have an OTA antenna hooked up to my TV for broadcast stations.
My issue is an audio connection. When my TV is set to antenna mode, I get audio through my Yamaha Receiver (set to MD/CD-R in-put). But as my Yamaha Receiver does not have an HDMI port, I don’t know how to get audio through the Yamaha when I stream through my Fire TV. I guess I though the optical audio already going from my TV to my Receiver might do the trick. I did purchase an HDMI Audio Extractor and tried running the an HDMI cable from TV”s HDMI 3 then to Extractor and then RCA red and whites out of the Extractor to Yamaha MD/CD-R but that didn’t work. Any help would be greatly appreciated. FYI while I don’t have any HDMI ports on the Yamaha, I do have a few other Digital/Optical outputs and then of course lots of RCA audio ports/jacks. Thank you in advance, Chris for your time and ideas.
Hi Chris, thanks for your question and kudos! You say in your setup paragraph that you have a digital optical cable running from the TV’s Digital/Optical OUT port, but that it is connected to the receiver’s Digital Output Optical MD/CD-R. Looking at the back of the receiver, that would be the top-most optical jack. There’s a picture of the backside at http://hometheaterhifi.com/volume_14_1/images/yamaha-rx-v659-receiver-rear-large.jpg. That’s the wrong jack. If you’re using that jack, you’re going from TV OUT to receiver OUT. Cables must be connected from OUT to IN.
Those optical jacks are numbered. #1 is an OUTPUT jack, #’s 2,3,4 are INPUT jacks. You should be using one of the INPUT jacks for digital audio coming from the TV. If you mis-spoke and meant that you are using the #2-labeled optical jack (that’s the 2nd one down, also labeled MD/CD-R), then that would explain why you can listen to OTA audio through the receiver. If that optical cable is correctly hooked up (from TV’s Digital Audio OUT port to receiver’s #2 Optical MD/CD-R IN jack), then you should also get audio from the FireTV and DVD player through the same connection (as long as you have the receiver’s input source set to MD/CD-R).
Assuming you’re using the #2 optical IN jack on the receiver, then the problem may be with Digital Rights Management, meaning that your Fire TV, TV and receiver haven’t exchanged DRM handshaking signals properly. The best solution is to power everything off, then turn on the Fire TV, then the TV, set to the FireTV input source, then the receiver.
That order helps ensure that the DRM signals are handled correctly. DRM was foisted off on us by the RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America), the same group of jackals who sued a grandmother for pirating music. They lobbied and got laws passed which make it harder to listen to (or view) content which you haven’t purchased, with the effect of also making it hard to view/listen to legal content. The implementation of DRM is a nightmare of conflicting standards and protocols that gets everybody in trouble. Even though you’re legal in terms of viewing and listening to music, the way each piece of equipment handles DRM makes it easy for your cobbled-together system to run into problems. After all, you’re using components from four different manufacturers (Sony, Amazon, Yamaha and Samsung). They don’t always play nice together.
I’m sorry you purchased the audio extractor, because you don’t want to use any of the RCA jacks (red & white 2-jack sets) unless you have to. They are analog 2-channel stereo only. Using those would sacrifice the awesome Dolby Digital 5.1 audio coming from the Firestick (and DVD, and OTA digital stations). I would have thought you’d need analog cables for the OTA but you say you’re getting audio so you must be only watching digital OTA stations (which have digital audio).
The Coaxial RCA (orange) cable from DVD to receiver (labeled connection #5 or 6) should be redundant as your TV outputs (via the optical cable) all digital audio regardless of source. Also, the S-Video cable (from receiver’s OUT port to TV’s IN port) shouldn’t be needed unless you’re piping low-quality video from the receiver to the TV. It doesn’t read like you’re doing that.
Based on what you’ve described (and assuming you’re using the #2 optical jack not the #1), and the fact that you’re getting digital audio from the OTA antenna through the receiver, there’s no reason other than DRM why you wouldn’t be getting audio from both FireTV and DVD to the receiver using the same optical connection. One way that DRM makes itself annoying is that you may have to power down and back up your components when you switch from FireTV to DVD to OTA.
I should mention that newer receivers (with HDMI inputs) would obviate the problem as the plugged in HDMI components (FireTV, etc.) would be powered on at the same time as the receiver and exchange DRM authorizations. Then the connected TV would authorize to the receiver and all would be good. But since you’re using the TV as the HDMI switcher, it likely isn’t handling the DRM handshaking with attached components as well. Not saying you have to buy a new receiver, just that the hassle you may have to go through (powering off and on) is a workaround to using older equipment with newer. Sorry for the wall o’ text…
Thank you so much, Chris, for the time and terrific explanation. I did indeed misstate where setup and did was indeed using the #2 optical jack. I tried the “manual power off and sequential power on” about four times as you suggested trying to get the DRM handshake to occur. Unfortunately it did not work. I also played around with the settings in both Fire TV (Digital Auto on and off) and on my TV but so luck there. Unless I can do some pass through with this HDMI extractor (maybe instead of using the inferior RCA maybe HDMI from TV to extractor then optical out to A/V Receiver?) I may just need to bite the bullet and update my 2005 purchase of that receiver to one with HDMI. Thank you so much and look forward to your newsletters.
HI Chris, Thanks for all you do here. Im hoping you can help. I recently purchased fire stick and want to do an outdoor movie with the kids on my deck. I have a good projector that only has VGA and USB connectors. I do have a converter to transfer the video from HDMI to a VGA as well as a USB to HDMI converters that i use for my laptop. (my Sharp TV has no output feature that i can see.
I was planning on running a HDMI Cable to the TV outside and using the mirroring option on the Fire Stick. Will that work?
Secondly, can you recommend a decent sound connector with that? Do the Bluetooth speakers work well?
I do not have a receiver yet, but with your advice i can purchase the right one.
Thank you for any advice, specifically on how the cheapest/convenient way to put this out on the deck to a projector and what sound is best.
Hi Scott, I’m going to have to do a heckuva lot of guessing here since you didn’t give me much info to go on. Such as the brand and model number of your projector, converter, TV and a sense of the size of your space. For your projector, I would guess that the USB connection is not for video input except from a laptop computer. A ‘good’ projector with only VGA inputs might be inadequate since your Firestick (and most large-screen video devices) use HD video. Seeing VGA quality output expanded onto a large outdoor screen could be really annoying…and you don’t mention what type of screen you’d be using. A white sheet is cheap, but the image displayed would be a lot less clear than with a true outdoor screen…
If you have an HDMI > VGA converter, then that’s the most obvious way you connect your Firestick to the projector. Plug the Firestick into the converter, and plug a VGA cable from converter to the VGA input on the projector. Like I said, you may not get HD-quality video image on-screen, but I’m only guessing.
Your second paragraph says ‘to the TV outside’ did you mean to the projector? I’m confused because you haven’t told me much about your setup, so again I’m just guessing here. Are you trying to say you want to run video concurrently to both a projector and a TV? Fyi, Firestick mirroring is for showing what’s output from the Firestick onto a mobile device that supports Miracast (such as some Android smartphones, Fire tablets and Fire phones). So that option won’t help for ‘mirroring’ video to a TV and projector.
Without knowing what brand and model number of your converter, I can’t determine if it can send HDMI input video to both a VGA output and an HDMI output. Some converter boxes are also capable of splitting signals, but most take multiple inputs to send to a single output. It sounds like you want a single input to go to multiple outputs, but I’m still just guessing here.
To get sound from the Firestick to the outside, I would suggest a Bluetooth speaker or two, battery powered if you don’t have handy power outlets around the deck. It would certainly be cheaper to go with wired speakers, but you’d then have a trip hazard (and you say you don’t have a receiver yet anyway). There are a lot of these types of wireless speakers of all sizes and prices on the market. Any recommendation I might give would be potentially bad without knowing if you want to fill a large deck with sound (and don’t have close neighbors who might complain), or for a small deck that could hold perhaps a half-dozen kids watching a movie.
For receivers, I tend to stick with Onkyo and Yamaha from a brand perspective. As to exact models (which change quite often), that depends on what you want/need the receiver to do – 4K vs. HD TV video, stereo vs. 5.1 or 7.1 surround sound, wired speakers versus wireless, etc. Since you’ve asked this question along with the whole projector/tv/outdoor/indoor questions, I’m not sure if you’re looking for a standalone receiver, or a home theater system. If the latter, you’d want to make sure the receiver has multi-room capability, so you could send sound to the in-house speakers and also to remote speakers elsewhere (like on your deck). Many receivers have the capability to use Bluetooth for audio delivery, but you’d need to verify that (and your need for that).
My best advice to you is to visit a home theater store and tap the expertise of the people there. That’ll be much more efficient than engaging in a long q&a via comment thread to discover your situation. You don’t need to buy from the home theater store, but they can help you figure out your needs. Once you have a clear understanding of the technology involved, what equipment pieces you’d need and what you can do with your space(s), then I could give a more focused recommendation if you like. Certainly I’d need a lot more information about your situation before I can do much more than guess.
Lastly, ‘cheapest’ and ‘convenient’ don’t necessarily go together. For much of the home theater world, cheapest is not convenient, and convenient can be quite expensive. Of course, I really don’t know what you mean by convenient – is it in terms of how to hook things up, how to operate things, how to move things around, etc.?
I’d like to replace my LG home theater & Samsung blu-ray with a single unit blu-ray/home theater. I’ve been looking for one with multiple hdmi inputs so I can use my Firestick with the surround sound. I’m not very tech-savvy & was hoping you could tell me if the Panasonic SC-BTT770 would do this. Thanks for your help.
Hi Rich, I don’t know what you mean when you say “LG home theater”. Without model numbers I could only guess what you have.
But the Panasonic SC-BTT770 (thanks for giving me the model number) has 2 HDMI inputs according to the online manual at http://media.datatail.com/docs/manual/96026_en.pdf (page 16). So yes, you could use it with your Firestick and one other component. So there’s not much room for expansion.
Fyi, most home theater systems consist of a receiver (that controls everything). The speakers connect to the central receiver and the receiver has 4-8 HDMI inputs for components like cable tv, disc players, Firestick, Apple TV, Chromecast, etc.
Most of the cheaper home theater systems that have a built-in disc player don’t really work as a true receiver because they can’t take multiple HDMI inputs. You dodged that bullet with the Panasonic SC-BTT770.
Trying to connect my firestick to an older model Denon receiver model AVR-2307CI and having no success.
Using HDMI cables connecting to a Vizio E600i-B3 television. Any suggestions how to make this work?
Thank You, Z. Latham
Hi Zane, thanks for your question. Your Denon receiver’s manual is online at https://usa.denon.com/us/product/hometheater/receivers/avr2307ci and shows that it does have two HDMI input ports on the back-side (underneath the HDMI output port that should connect to your TV). Since I don’t know how you’ve hooked things up, I’m going to give you the basics:
1. Plug in the Firestick into one of the HDMI input ports. See Page 19 (your Firestick would take the place of the DVD player in the diagram on that page).
2. Plug one HDMI cable from the Monitor Out port on the receiver to an input port on the TV. Set the TV to use the same input port.
Once these connections are made, turn on the receiver. Using the receiver’s remote, select the DVD/VDP input (the same input source as the HDMI port you plugged in the Firestick), and then press any button on the Firestick remote. That will wake up the Firestick and show the Firestick screen on the TV.
If you have other components you haven’t told me about or other aspects to your home theater setup, I can’t know your situation fully enough to advise you further. If you still need help, I’m going to need a lot of detail about your hookup, and specifically what you mean by ‘no success’.
Hi Chris,
Thanks for such a detailed page on this very specific topic.
I am in process of deciding which Sony blu-ray surround system to buy. My budget fits around the Sony BDV-E4100
I need to use surround sound from:
1. Fire Stick
2. Sky+
3. The blue-ray player itself
My Samsung UN65J9500 TV has 4 HDMI ports and one coaxial out (but it will not pass 5.1 through). See note on this page.
http://support-us.samsung.com/cyber/popup/iframe/pop_troubleshooting_fr.jsp?from_osc=&homeid=572541&idx=574202&modelcode=UN65JS9500FXZA&modelname=UN65JS9500F&
Can the BDV E4100 satisfy my requirements? I am ready to purchase additional reciever/amplifier if you point to a reasonably priced one.
Thanks again!
Hi Shailesh, I checked the online manual for the Sony surround sound system and it has an optical audio input port on the back (see page 14 of the manual online at https://www.sony.co.uk/electronics/support/res/manuals/4446/44467341M.pdf). And your TV has an Optical audio output port, as shown in the note’s picture.
That note you reference does sound odd. I have several Samsung flat-screen TVs and have never experienced a problem with digital audio from an HDMI source not being passed out the optical audio port. What I’d suggest is that you first connect an optical cable from the TV’s optical OUT port to the Sony’s optical IN port and see if you can get sound. This only costs you getting an optical digital audio cable, which you’ll need anyway.
If it truly doesn’t work that way, then you need an audio extractor box to go in-between the Firestick and the TV. If you also want any other HDMI audio (such as the Sky+) to go to the surround sound system, get an audio extractor/switcher box. Of course, you’ll need the appropriate short HDMI cables to connect things together.
For just the Firestick’s audio to the Sony surround sound, get something like https://www.amazon.com/Tendak-Optical-Extractor-Converter-Splitter/dp/B017B6WFP8 for $27US. Plug the Firestick into it, run the optical cable from the extractor box to the Sony surround sound system, and run a short HDMI cable from the extractor box to the TV.
For multiple HDMI devices, get something like https://www.amazon.com/Tendak-Switcher-Selector-Extractor-Splitter/dp/B01HM1RP6G for $40US. Plug all your components (Firestick, Sky+) HDMI cables into the switcher box, and run one HDMI cable to the TV. Also run an optical cable from the switcher box to your Sony surround sound system. To switch your TV between Firestick and Sky+, use the remote that comes with the switcher box (you can also program a universal remote to do this for you).
You really don’t need a full receiver to make this work, the little switcher box can handle up to 4 components for future expansion. If you did want a full home theatre system, here’s one: https://www.amazon.com/Onkyo-HT-S3800-Channel-Theater-Package/dp/B01F3ENAOU reasonably priced ($199US), but note you’d still need a blu-ray player (like this component https://www.amazon.com/Sony-BDP-S3700-Streaming-DLC-HE10S-Ethernet/dp/B06XT8JFQ8 for $78US).
The system you selected (Sony BDV-E4100) is not a true home theatre system, because the receiver is really just a blu-ray player with no way to add other components. Home theatre systems are the central hub for everything – input source components plug into the receiver.
Thanks for the detailed analysis Chris. I have decided to either get Sony BDV-N7200W which has two HDMI in ports or to buy a Tendak HDMI switcher.
Chris,
I plan to cut the cord and purchase an antenna for local TV and a new generation Amazon Firestick for all other TV watching. My question is what technology do I use to record from either the antenna or Amazon Firestick?
Thanks
Hi Ken, thanks for your question. When dealing with digital media, the issue is one of DRM – Digital Rights Management. Many/most commercial programs (pretty much everything that’s HD) are protected from recording in the fight against piracy. So it’s not like you can go out and buy a digital recorder, hook it up and record anything coming from your TV. Most equipment you can buy have some form of HDCP – HD copyright protection built in.
While there are ways to bypass HDCP, the legality of doing so is very much in the grey area, therefore I can’t in good conscience give you any recommendations. Sorry. This is probably the biggest concern with cord-cutters everywhere, given that much/most of the video content we consume is now in HD and protected by HDCP.
On the plus side, most programming you’ll get from your Firestick and apps (Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime Video, etc.) are on-demand, so you don’t need to record them, just watch them when you want. There is usually a rotational aspect to some of these, for example with Neflix movies and other content may only be available for a certain amount of time (1 month to 1 year).
In the case of broadcast television, pretty much anything broadcast in HD is going to be protected. Everything else is up to the individual broadcaster. You can certainly connect a handycam to your TV and record whatever is playing on the TV – if it’s protected with HDCP the handycam won’t record it, otherwise it will.
Hi Chris – just purchased firestick, and trying to determine what my options are for my surround sound. I have an older Sony DAV-DZ175 surround and a sceptre X50. Appreciate your help. Thanks! Tony
Hi Tony, thanks for your comment. Your Sony DAV-DZ175 is not a general-purpose home theater system, but a special-purpose one that doesn’t have options for plugging HDMI components into it, such as your new Firestick. Your Scepter X50 LCD TV does have three HDMI IN ports. You’re probably using one of them to connect the Sony to the TV. Since you don’t have a home theater receiver, you’ll have to put the TV to work managing the multiple HDMI inputs. Here’s the simplest way to connect and use your Firestick with the Sony:
1. plug the Firestick into a free HDMI port on your TV. Leave the Sony HDMI cable plugged into another HDMI port on the TV.
2. get and plug a Digital Coaxial Cable (also called SPDIF) from the TV’s OUT port to your Sony’s IN port. These are both RCA style plugs/jacks and are colored orange (so you don’t mix them up with analog red or white jacks). You can use any RCA cable if you have one, you don’t have to buy a special Digital Audio Coaxial cable.
3. Optionally, you may also want to run a Red/White RCA cable pair from the TV’s OUT jacks to the Sony’s IN jacks. This is in case you want to watch any non-HD content, since the Coaxial cable output only takes digital content, and your TV may not convert analog signals to digital (which is what a home theater receiver would do).
You’ll switch between inputs using the TV remote and the Sony remote:
1. To use the Firestick, set the TV to use the HDMI port into which you plugged the Firestick. Set the Sony to use the digital external source.
2. To use the Sony’s DVD player, set the TV to use the HDMI port into which you plugged the HDMI cable coming from the Sony. Set the Sony to use its own system (probably all you need to do is insert a DVD and press play).
Wow – thanks! After following your directions I can now use the surround with the firestick, but only the front two speakers and the sub have sound. Is there something additional I need to do to get sound from the center and two rear speakers, or is this a limitation of my setup/equipment?
Sounds like a setting mis-match. It may be an audio setting in the Firestick (should be set to Dolby auto), or the TV may not be passing the full 5.1 signal through (you can check settings on the TV to see what it can do), or it might be a setting in the Sony system. The only other thing I can think of might be if the audio cable you’re using is a very cheap one, it might not be able to handle the full digital bandwidth of the Coaxial connection. The coaxial digital audio cables are usually thicker than the simple analog ones because they carry more signal.
I have a Sony dav-fx500 and a Phillips smart tv and I just want the home theater to work I’ve tried the red and white cables from receiver to tv and nothing happened I’ve also got an HDMI splitter don’t know if that helps but any help would be appreciated
Hi John, thanks for your comment. You don’t say how you have things hooked up so you’re leaving me with just some guesses. I’m guessing that you have plugged the Firestick into an HDMI IN port on your TV, since your Sony really isn’t a ‘receiver’ and doesn’t have HDMI input jacks.
You don’t say what model your Philips TV but I’m guessing that the TV has either a Digital Optical Audio OUT port or a Digital Coaxial Audio OUT port. You need to connect either an optical or coaxial audio cable from the TV’s OUT port to the matching IN port on the Sony. That provides a path for the Dolby 5.1 audio to go from the Firestick, through the TV and to the Sony’s attached surround sound speakers.
Hi Chris,
I’m trying to connect the Firestick to Optoma HD20DLP projector and Onkyo TX-SR308 receiver. If I connect the stick directly to the projector it works fine (without sound), but if I connect to the receiver, I can’t get it to work. Please help 🙂
HI Giedrius, thanks for your comment. You don’t say how you have things hooked up, so I can only guess. Since your projector is only a video display device, of course it can’t do anything with the audio. If you plugged the Firestick into the receiver, you should have been able to get video to the projector and audio to the attached speakers. Unless of course, you didn’t have a video path from the receiver to the projector.
You should have an HDMI cable going from the OUT port on the receiver (see page 8 of your manual, available online at http://www.intl.onkyo.com/downloads/manuals/pdf/tx-sr308_manual_e.pdf), to an IN port on the projector. On the projector, select the HDMI input from that cable. On the receiver, select the input source for the HDMI IN port where you’ve got the Firestick plugged into.
Unless all your devices can communicate when they’re powered up with each other, they will not play your Firestick content due to HDCP (HD copyright protection). So turn on the receiver and the projector, and then plug in the Firestick. That way the Firestick can see both receiver and projector and exchange HDCP signals.
Hi Chris
After reading all the other responses I am just as confused; here is what I have
Firestick
Samsung Plasma r5052 http://www.hdtvsolutions.com/pdf/HP-R5052man.pdf
Samsung dvd home theatre ht-x50 https://www.samsung.com/us/support/owners/product/home-theater-ht-x50
Should I be plugging the firestick into the ht-x50 and running a Digital Audio component cord?
thanks in advance
Hi Jen, thank you for your comment, and thanks for the links to your equipment, that makes my job so much easier! You, like so many others, have a ‘special-purpose’ receiver as part of your home theatre system. It cannot take external HDMI component inputs like the Firestick.
Unfortunately, your Plasma TV only has one HDMI input – it too was not designed for using with multiple components in a Home Theatre system. I’m guessing that you already have an HDMI cable running from the OUT port on your home theatre receiver to the IN port on the Plasma TV – this is for watching DVDs.
Short of buying a new home theatre receiver to make your setup a full ‘general-purpose’ home theatre system, you can add some lower-cost equipment to give you the ability to use multiple components (like the Firestick) with the equipment (TV and home theatre system) you already have. Here’s what you need to get:
1. HDMI Switch with Audio OUT like this one https://www.amazon.com/Tendak-Switcher-Selector-Extractor-Splitter/dp/B01HM1RP6G for $35US
2. Digital Optical Audio cable (aka TosLink) like this one: https://www.amazon.com/Digital-Audio-Cable-Feet-Connectors/dp/B017V7V40Y for $7US
3. You might also need another HDMI cable, like this one: https://www.amazon.com/Cablelera-High-Speed-HDMI-Ethernet/dp/B011ESUGH8 for $5US
Now here’s how you hook everything up:
A. Plug in the electrical connection to the new switch so it’s powered up.
B. Run an HDMI cable from the new switch’s OUT port to the TV’s IN port
C. Run the Digital Optical cable from the new switch’s OUT port to the home theatre receiver’s IN port
D. Run an HDMI cable from the home theatre receiver’s OUT port to any one of the new switch’s IN ports
E. Now turn on the home theatre receiver, and then the TV.
G. Finally, plug the Firestick into any one of the new switch’s IN ports. When you plug it in it will power on.
Doing things in this order will make sure that the HDCP signals are exchanged between the equipment components.
The new switch comes with a small remote which you’ll use to go from watching Firestick to the DVD built into the home theatre receiver. When you’re switching from one to the other with that remote, you may also need to change the home theatre’s receiver to use the appropriate audio signal. So:
1. To watch Firestick, set the new switch remote on the input for the Firestick. Set the home theatre remote to use the external input (likely pressing the TV button will do that).
2. To watch a DVD inserted in the home theatre receiver, set the new switch remote on the input for the receiver. Set the home theatre remote to use the DVD (DVD button).
That should do it for you. The nice thing about the little switch is that it has 4 HDMI inputs, so you can add other components (like a cable box, Roku or Apple TV) in the future.
Thanks! I was looking for a new theater system before I found your site.
If I were to purchase a new theater system with more HDMI ports would that help my situation?
Of course others in my home want a new TV.. 🙂
Thank you for your time
So the solution I gave you would cost you less than $50US. This is a low-cost way to do without a dedicated, general-purpose receiver. If money’s not the object, of course a new home theatre system would help your situation. You have two options there:
1. buy just a receiver (you can find a nice one for under $400, like this Onkyo: https://www.amazon.com/Onkyo-TX-NR656-Channel-Network-Receiver/dp/B01D86TLES. Connect your speakers to the new receiver, and use your old receiver as a DVD component (plugging its HDMI OUT into the new receiver).
2. buy a whole new home theatre system (including new speakers). You can choose to use your old receiver as a DVD player component in the new system like #1 above, or get a new Blu-ray disk player component. You can find nice systems for under $400, but get a really nice one like this https://www.amazon.com/Onkyo-Versatile-Component-Receiver-TX-NR575/dp/B0759Z7YLG for $800.
I’d avoid the type of all-in-one receivers with a disk player built-in, they usually don’t have multiple HDMI inputs and are no improvement over what you have now.
For a new TV, there are plenty of Samsung Smart TVs (LCD) that you could get to replace the plasma. https://www.amazon.com/Samsung-Electronics-UN55MU6300-55-Inch-Ultra/dp/B06XGJX3SH is $600 and has 4k built-in to go with the capabilities of the $800 system above. New 4k LCD TVs are nice, but there’s not much 4k programming yet, so you’re really buying to make the system a bit more future-proof.
Hi Chris — Great service you are providing to the masses — Thank you!
I’d like to make sure I am getting the best sound possible from a new soundbar — let me describe my setup, and I was hoping you could let me know if I’m fully taking advantage of the sandbar capabilities.
I have an LG 65″ UF6790 TV, a FireStick, a Panasonic Blu-Ray DMP-BDT215, and a Samsung HW-M430 Soundbar.
I’ve connected the FireStick to the TV on HDMI 1 and the Blu-Ray to the TV on HDMI 3. I’ve connected the optical audio from the TV to the soundbar.
Thoughts? Thanks in advance!
Chris
Hi Chris, thanks! It sounds like you’ve got everything right. the Firestick and Blu-ray player put out Dolby HD audio, and the TV passes that audio through the digital audio cable to the soundbar, which decodes and plays it. So all good there! But I do note that your Samsung soundbar’s manual (http://downloadcenter.samsung.com/content/UM/201709/20170907095408191/HW-M430_ZC_170829.pdf) on page 25 notes that you’re only going to get 2.1 audio (that’s stereo plus subwoofer) from the soundbar unless you purchased and are using the optional rear speaker kit.
That optional kit is the SWA-8000S and is noted at https://www.samsung.com/us/televisions-home-theater/television-home-theater-accessories/home-theater/wireless-rear-speaker-accessory-kit-swa-8000s-swa-8000s-za/. Unfortunately, I checked a bunch of online locations that all show it as out of stock. With that kit installed, you’ll get 4.1 audio (the Firestick and Blu-ray player can output 5.1 HD digital audio, which the soundbar will down-convert to 4.1). I don’t think you’ll miss the center speaker (the 5 in 5.1) I betcha the soundbar will balance the left & right channels for that signal so you get almost the full 5.1 effect.
I’m also assuming that you’ve placed your TV with the soundbar underneath it in the center of a wall in a rectangle or square room (if rectangle, the TV should be on a longer wall). That way the sideways-firing speakers of the soundbar will more effectively bounce sound from the walls to give you a better approximation of surround sound even with just the 2.1 capability. The subwoofer can go anywhere, since the low-frequency audio it puts out is non-directional.
Thank you for validating the set-up and for the tips!
Take care — Chris
Yes Chris, I’m trying to get sound out of my Firestick TV Stick through my Yamaha Natural Sound AV receiver RX-V373. It does have an HDMI plug that isn’t in use. I can get sound just through the TV by changing it to TV sound but I want it through my amazing surround sound speakers. I tried plugging the Firestick into the amplifier in the back but got nothing. Would SO appreciate your help! I tried changing sound in the Firestick setting to the first choice Dolby auto but that didn’t work either. Please help!
HI Marsha, thanks for your question! I checked your online manual for the receiver (at https://usa.yamaha.com/products/contents/audio_visual/downloads/manuals/index.html?l=en&c=audio_visual&k=RX-V373, both a quick setup guide and owner’s manual) and your system is fully capable of working with the Firestick. So I’m guessing you didn’t hook things up correctly. Here’s how it should be hooked up:
1. You should have an HDMI cable going from the HDMI Out jack of the Yamaha receiver to an HDMI In jack of the TV.
2. Component(s) should have an HDMI cable going from their HDMI Out jack(s) to an available HDMI In jack on the back of the Yamaha receiver. These are labeled HDMI 1, HDMI 2, HDMI 3 and HDMI 4. See page 9 of the user’s manual, the HDMI In jacks are #2.
3. To switch the receiver from component to component, use the Yamaha’s remote and press the button for the input source. See page 10 of the user’s manual, the source input buttons are #4, and the top row are the HDMI sources.
As it says on page 19 of the user’s manual: “After connecting external devices (such as a TV and playback devices) and the power cable to the unit, turn on the unit, TV, and playback devices.” Follow that order, the Yamaha receiver, the TV and finally the components (including the Firestick). This is important as each component must exchange HD Copyright Protection (HDCP) signals to authorize everything in your home theatre system to play back commercial videos, music, etc.
My guess is that you didn’t power on the components in the right order, so the Firestick never got authorized to the receiver and/or TV. If you already have everything turned on, reach behind the Yamaha receiver, unplug the Firestick, count to 10 and then plug it back in so it can re-establish HDCP.
The only other thing that might be stopping you (assuming you’ve done all the above), is if you neglected to plug the electrical power into the Firestick. That uses a microUSB cable and a ‘wall wart’ plug brick to provide power to the Firestick. The Firestick won’t work with just an HDMI connection, it also needs electrical power.
Hi Chris. I have surround sound and an HP Flatscreen. My house was wired for surround sound running the a/v from tv through cable box to receiver (Denon). I have since cut the cord, which meant disconnected the cable from the receiver. Because the tv is hung so snug to the wall and all components are on the back of the TV, I managed to connect an HDMI with a converter to stream from my laptop without have the luxury of connecting to the surround sound. However, I want to connect my firestick to my tv (via the one HDMI cord). I know that I will need a male/female converter to connect the HDMI to the firestick, but I would like to be able to experience surround sound again. Please advise.
The TV is an HP Pavilion PE4200N and the receiver is a Denon AVR-687.
Hi Michelle, thanks for your question. Your receiver’s manual is online at https://usa.denon.com/us/product/hometheater/receivers/avr687
That shows your older receiver doesn’t have HDMI input capability. If that’s correct, you’ll need an HDMI switcher box with digital audio output that you can connect from the switcher box to the Denon receiver.
HP doesn’t publish their TV manuals online (for shame on them!), so I looked it up at https://www.manualslib.com/manual/71616/Hp-Pavilion-Pe4200n.html?page=18#manual
Your TV only has a single HDMI input, so you can’t use multiple components without either plugging and unplugging, or using an HDMI switcher box.
I’m just guessing here, but likely you had your cable box running HDMI OUT to the TV’s IN, and a digital optical cable going from the cable box’s Digital Audio OUT to the Denon receiver’s Digital Audio IN.
So, you can keep things like you had them before, just in place of the cable box (now that you’ve cut the cord), use an HDMI switcher with audio extractor, like this: https://www.amazon.com/Tendak-Switcher-Selector-Extractor-Splitter/dp/B01HM1RP6G for $40 US.
Plug the HDMI cable coming from the TV into that box (in the HDMI OUT port). Plug both your Firestick and your laptop into HDMI IN ports on that box. Connect the digital audio cable coming from the Denon receiver into that box. Power it all up and watch video and listen to surround sound! The splitter/extractor box has both coaxial and optical digital audio OUTPUT jacks, and your Denon has both coaxial and digital INPUT jacks. So it doesn’t matter whichever type your old cable box used, you can still use the same cable you were using before.
Thank you Chris for your expedient reply. I am going to purchase the HDMI switcher from Amazon and prayerfully, this will work.
Hi. When it comes to AV, I often get several wrong answers before I get the accurate one 🙂 I stumbled upon your site, and my guess is that you can effortlessly give me the right answer. I recently purchased a 4K fire stick. My 1080 TV is ‘dumb’, but hooked through a 5.1 surround sound system. The receiver has 3 HDMI inputs, and I have 1 hooked from CenturyLink Prism, 1 from my Blu-ray, and now have the Fire stick in the 3rd – then 1 hdmi comes out to the TV Picture is great, but receiver says I am getting ‘3.1’ audio signal, and I’m not sure what that means. Will the 4K stick support 5.1 surround sound, and if so, how do I activate this option…or would I be better off simply running the fire stick through a HDMI port on the TV? (What, for that matter, does the 3.1 indication mean regarding signal output?) (And do you happen to know, again when running the signal through the same system, what sort of audio signal I am receiving from CenturyLink Prism? Even their chat cannot tell me.) Thanks and happy holidays to you!
Hi Janice, I totally get your frustration with online research. Often yielding incorrect information because the folks who publish aren’t held to any standard of quality, but sometimes wrong answers are given because the wrong question was asked, or because critical information was left out of the question.
I consider what I do here as a public service, and take the time to get just the right answer whenever possible. That generally means I must have good information from the questioner. In your case, you don’t tell me what brand and model of home theater equipment you have, and you don’t specify exactly what types of cables are going from what ports to what ports between equipment components. So I’m going to have to do some guessing. That means the answer may not be exactly right for you. But here goes:
1. Your first question is if the Amazon Firestick outputs 5.1 surround sound, and the answer is unequivocally yes (see my caveat below). On the Firestick audio menu, you have several choices and the first one, Dolby Digital Plus Automatic should work for you.
1. Go to “Settings”
2. Go to “Sound/Display”
3. Go to “Audio” and select “Dolby Digital Plus Automatic”
You don’t say what type of receiver you have (I need brand and model number to look it up online) so I don’t know what its capabilities are. It may have settings for the HDMI input that control how the audio is processed, or limitations on the HDMI3 port you’re using for the Firestick.
Caveat: You say the receiver says that the Firestick is outputting 3.1 audio. You should know that different content (new movies/tv shows, old movies/tv shows, etc.) may have different audio output formats. Most modern movies are formatted for 5.1 (or 7.1) digital audio, while lots of TV shows are still formatted for older Dolby digital formats (AC-3 audio can be formatted for 7.1, 5.1, 3.1, 3.0, 2.1, 2.0, and even 1.0 (mono) output). That’s not up to the hardware you’re using, but up to the producers of the content. Your Firestick and your CenturyLink Prism content delivery systems simply pass whatever the content producers…produced.
2. You ask if you should plug the Firestick into the TV, but unless you have a digital audio cable going from the TV to the receiver, you won’t have any way to get audio to the surround sound speakers. As long as your receiver is fully capable, the correct hookup is Firestick to receiver. The receiver then sends video to the TV and audio to the surround sound speakers.
3. the 3.1 indication you ask about means that you’re receiving signals for stereo 2-channel (left and right) as well as a center channel and a subwoofer signal. Again, that may be the content that happens to be playing at the moment instead of anything in your Firestick or receiver settings.
4. CenturyLink Prism like all content providers passes whatever content was created onto you. So you should be getting full 5.1 surround sound from content that was produced that way, and your receiver’s built-in Pro-logic circuitry will simulate 5.1 audio for older content that was encoded with less than 5.1 surround sound.
If none of the above helps you, please give me more information about your setup. The brand and model number of your receiver (and your TV), as well as what labeled ports are connected (such as receiver HDMI OUT with HDMI cable to TV HDMI 1, and firestick to receiver HDMI 3). With the brand/model information I can lookup their user manuals online and give you much more ‘right’ information with less guesswork.
I know this is a little off topic, but here goes. We are about to build a home theater with a 90″ screen. We haven’t settled on a projector as of yet, but must be a short throw. We are leaning in the direction of the LG PF1000UA. Would definitely like your opinion or possible recommendations on others as well. Will probably have to stay in the 1080P projectors as I have not found any 4K short throw projectors under 25K. Also would like a recommendation for a good receiver/ sound system. We will be connecting a cable box, firestick, 2 game systems, a pc and a dvd player. Could shed one of the game systems if needed.
Hi Dan, thanks for the comment. yes this is a little off-topic, I will write a separate article about your question, look for it in the coming weeks. It will take some time to do good research on short-throw projectors. If you could use the Ask your Tech Coach form to rephrase your question, or respond to this comment with more details (your budget range both for a projector, and for a home theater system) I can give you a closer answer since the possible ranges go from a few hundred dollars to over $10k (for either). I’ll assume unless you tell me otherwise that you are US based so will look at equipment available in the USA.
Hi Chris,
I have a Panasonic tc-p55t50 plasma TV and currently have the Fire Stick plugged into one of the HDMI ports. This TV also has a plug for a Component/AV adapter https://www.amazon.com/Panasonic-K2KYYYY00199-Av-Cable-Adapter/dp/B00BL593CO/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1514168405&sr=8-1&keywords=k2kyyyy00199 I was thinking I could use the ZAMO HDMI to 1080P Component Video mentioned in your article but unfortunately it’s not available on Amazon anymore. I did find one that is very similar https://www.amazon.com/ZAMO-Plated-DisplayPort-Adapter-Female/dp/B01N0O6YE5/ref=pd_sbs_23_9?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=NJEN1T1YW9YQJ129ACJC and wanted your input on this device.
Also, I want to know is if I use the Component/AV adapter instead of plugging it into the back of the receiver, Sony STR-K840P, will I still get surround sound and good picture quality? Or should I use the other adapter “HDMI to Composite AV Converter” because my receiver only takes the 3 RCA plugs?
Hi Don, thanks for your question. I’m a little confused about what you’re asking and wanting to do. It sounds like you have the Firestick plugged directly into the TV, but you also have a Sony receiver that’s probably running your surround sound speakers.
I’m guessing the receiver doesn’t have HDMI inputs, and you want to hear the Firestick through the surround sound system. If that’s your need…
You don’t need any kind of converter box. Your TV has a Digital Audio OUT port and your Sony receiver has a digital audio IN port. Connect an optical cable between those two ports and the audio from your Firestick (and any other component plugged into the TV) will be delivered to the receiver and out to the speakers. See the top of page 13 of the Panasonic’s manual (online at ftp://ftp.panasonic.com/television/om/tc-p55vt50_en_om.pdf).
The component AV adapter you mention is for plugging a source into the TV. Are you trying to plug something other than the Firestick into the TV (that doesn’t use HDMI)?
Hi Chris,
Here is more info on my system.
I already have an optical cable connected from my TV to my surround sound system and I do get surround sound on over the air TV channels. But, when I turn on the Fire stick I cannot get surround sound. I do get sound but not surround sound. The fire stick is plugged into an HDMI port on the TV.
The Sony receiver does not have any HDMI ports.
The Panasonic TV does have a component video plug, see page 12 of the Panasonic manual.
If I buy this converter
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B077TPB3K4/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?smid=A1MDXQUI3DQ0NB&psc=1
Plug it into the component plug in the back of the TV.
Then plug the Fire Stick into the back of the adapter, Will this give me the surround sound on my Fire Stick?
I think you’re not getting it, Page 12 of the manual (and the converter box like you mention) is for the INPUT ports on the back of the TV, not for OUTPUT. Getting a converter box and plugging the Firestick into it still leaves the audio from it having to go through the optical cable to your surround sound speakers. You already have an HDMI input that will pass the audio out through the optical port. Please forget about this converter box nonsense, it would only make things more complicated.
Your TV has HDMI inputs so you can plug the Firestick directly into the TV. Your TV has an optical OUT port and you’ve connected a cable from that to your receiver. You’ve proven that setup works by playing over-the-air programs with surround sound just fine. That leaves four potential reasons (I can think of) why you’re not getting surround sound from the Firestick to the speakers:
1. You haven’t set the Firestick to output Dolby Digital Plus Automatic audio output. On the Firestick, go to “Settings”, go to “Sound/Display”, and go to “Audio”. Select “Dolby Digital Plus Automatic”.
2. You are watching content on the Firestick that is not surround sound. Not all content is encoded for 5.1 digital audio. You should play a movie that you know offers surround sound.
3. You’ve not set the receiver correctly, or are using the wrong input selection. I found on this discussion forum (https://www.hometheaterforum.com/community/threads/sony-str-k840p-optical-problem.138491/) that page 10 of your user manual says you need to assign the inputs. Most likely the optical IN port uses the Video 2 source input.
4. It’s possible that you haven’t gotten all the equipment to verify itself together with HDCP (that’s HD copyright protection). Sometimes when you plug in and power on digital video/audio equipment the various components don’t get powered on in the right order so they can establish HDCP. The easy solution is to unplug the Firestick from the system (with everything else powered on and set to use the HDMI port), then plug in the Firestick. The TV will recognize and authorize the Firestick, and pass the digital audio (plus HDCP) to the receiver via the optical cable.
I can tell you unequivocally, with the physical connections you’ve outlined (Firestick plugged into HDMI IN port on TV, optical cable from TV OUT port to receiver IN port, and surround sound speakers connected to the receiver), your setup is capable of delivering surround sound to the speakers. It is certainly something in one or more of the four issues I’ve outlined above. You needn’t waste money on converter boxes as they won’t improve your situation.
Chris,
The only reason I was asking about the component video plug is that I has an old play station plugged into that port when I first bought the TV and that worked fine.
1. The fire stick has been set at Dolby Digital Plus Automatic since I have first set it up.
2. I have tried watching at least a dozen movies and TV shows and none of them play as surround sound
3. I have also tried all the video settings on my Sony receiver and the only one that I can get any sound from is the Video 2 setting. This is where I get surround sound from over the air TV but not the fire stick.
4. I have tried unplugging the fire stick and plugging it back in to the same port and tried it in a different HDMI port and still get the same results.
I know what you’re saying about the manual and your right this should work but it does not. I have been to the back of both the TV and the receiver checking everything. I guess I will just have to settle for the way it is. Thanks for trying to help me. If I figure out an answer to this I will pass it on.
HI Don, I’m sorry you’re not getting the surround sound that you should get. I did find a discussion forum (https://arstechnica.com/civis/viewtopic.php?t=1216041) that talks about problems with some TVs, around the area of HDCP and some TVs’ lack of a Dolby decoder circuit. At this point, there’s no substitute for an on-site diagnosis from a home theater expert. Unless you’re willing to live with 2-channel sound resulting from your connection setup…
I have a Sony STR-DH500 receiver. Will the Amazon Fire Stick play surround sound through that ?
Thanks
Hi David, thanks for your question. In general, home theater receivers like yours have multiple HDMI inputs and should pass the video to the HDMI output (to the TV) and send the audio from the HDMI input to both the attached speakers (via dedicated wires) and to the TV speaker (via HDMI). Your Sony’s manual (online at https://docs.sony.com/release/strdh500_us.pdf) is a little confusing (page 19), it says that HDMI passes audio and video to the TV and says that to use surround sound from an HDMI component you must also connect a digital audio cable.
That may just be a language translation issue. You won’t know for sure until you connect the Firestick and play a movie. If it turns out that the manual is clear and that HDMI audio doesn’t go to surround sound speakers then you have two choices:
1. connect a digital audio cable from the TV to the receiver so that audio from the TV will be shunted back to the surround sound speakers.
2. if the TV doesn’t have a digital audio output port, then you’ll need an audio extractor box (like this one https://www.amazon.com/Tendak-Extractor-Optical-TOSLINK-Converter/dp/B014F4HYKK $28) so you can extract the audio from the Firestick to a digital audio connection.
Thanks very much for the lengthy and informative reply. I will certainly try routing the FireStick through the stereo.
Only one other question – should I use any particular HDMI input on my stereo to input the FireStick signal ? I have 4 inputs: TV Box, DVD player, BlueRay player, and something called “TV, Projector, etc.” The DVD and TV box are occupied.
It shouldn’t matter which input you use.
Should the fire stick be in the powered hdmi input without 13amp power lead or the unpowered hdmi with the 13amp power lead
Hi Kevin, the Firestick should always be powered by the included electrical ‘wall wart’. It doesn’t matter which type of HDMI input port you use, because the Firestick only gets its power from the microUSB port.
Hey Chris,
I have a Pioneer Elite Pro-700HD tv and would like to connect amazon prime video. I am currently using an Onkyo TX-SR607 and noticed that it does have an hdmi outlet on the front of it and am wondering if my device could just plug into it?
I am currently watching UVerse tv which is AT&T,
Thanks
Hi Linda, thanks for your question! Certainly you could connect your Firestick to the Onkyo receiver’s front HDMI input port (it’s not an ‘outlet’), or you could connect the Firestick to any of the open HDMI ports (there are five) on the backside of the receiver. See page 11 of your Onkyo manual (online version at http://www.intl.onkyo.com/downloads/manuals/pdf/tx-sr607_manual_e.pdf).
Don’t forget to also plug in electrical power to the Firestick. That’s the power brick that it came with, which plugs (the ‘wall wart’) into a wall outlet and the other end goes into the MicroUSB port on the side of the Firestick.
Most folks find it easier to use the Onkyo’s rear HDMI ports, since they don’t plug and unplug the Firestick a lot. The front HDMI port is usually for temporary devices like camcorders.
The Firestick came with a short HDMI extension cable to make things easier for you. Plug the extension cable into a rear HDMI port on the Onkyo, then plug the Firestick into that.
Hi Chris, I have a TCL Roku tv. I also have my firestick pluged into one of the HDMI ports. On my TV i have a optical out cable going to a Sony receiver, optical in. I have my DVD and Cable HDMI going to my HDMI inputs on my tv. Through those hookups i receive 5.1 Doby digital. I know this because I have a blue light that goes on when something is in Dolby Digital. My problem is I can not receive a Doby Digital 5.1 from my Fire stick, only a dolby surround signal. I have set up my Firestick to output in Digital…. Am I missing something here in my hookups??? Thank you very much
Hi Robert, thanks for your question! It sounds like your hookups are fine. If you’re getting “Dolby surround sound” out the speakers from the Firestick then by definition it is “Digital” (optical cables only transmit digital signals). It may simply be that Sony’s proprietary circuitry won’t turn on the blue light unless it sees a Sony-specific-compatible Dolby Digital audio signal. When you say “Dolby surround sound” I’m assuming that you’re hearing 5.1 audio – a different audio signal in each speaker. If that’s the case, no need to worry about the blue light or not. If you’re not hearing true 5.1 digital audio, then …
Not all audio output from the Firestick is going to be Dolby Digital 5.1, it depends on the specific content (movie, tv show, etc.) you are playing. For example, when I watch many TV shows on Netflix or Amazon Prime Video, they were only created with 2.1 audio. My receiver (and yours) uses Dolby Pro-logic circuitry to expand that signal so I get audio from all surround sound speakers, ‘ersatz surround sound’. The Pro-logic circuitry mimics 5.1 audio:
1. the center channel gets a mix of left and right
2. the rear right gets the right channel, perhaps at a slightly lower level
3. the rear left gets the left channel, perhaps at a slightly lower level
4. the left and right front speakers get their own channel, as does the subwoofer (the original 2.1 signal)
If the content you’re playing out the Firestick is encoded with Dolby Digital 5.1, then all those digital signals will go to your receiver, regardless of whether Sony’s proprietary system recognizes it as Dolby Digital or not.
I doubt this is the problem but you may want to check your Firestick’s audio output – it should be set to “Dolby Digital Plus Auto”, which will ensure that your Firestick outputs Dolby Digital audio. There are other audio settings you could try, but the Auto setting is almost always best.
Hi Chris, I have a Bose lifestyle 48 and I have the Bose lifestyle VS-1 video expander for additional components. I would like to connect a fire stick streaming device. Can you help?
Hi Tracy, thanks for your question. You don’t mention what TV you’re using, so I can only guess. Let’s assume that your TV has an available HDMI input port – you could plug the Firestick into the TV and get Firestick video. But you’d still need a way to get digital audio to the Bose Lifestyle 48. Mixing old and new technology is always going to be more complicated.
I should mention that your VS-1 video expander is analog (no HDMI ports). The VS-2 video expander has HDMI ports and you could simply plug the Firestick into that and be done. Since your Bose audio system wasn’t designed to deal with external HDMI components, and you only have a VS-1 video expander, you’ll need some way to pull the audio from the Firestick and send it to the Bose Lifestyle 48. I have three possible solutions for you, which you choose depends on the capabilities of your TV.
1. If your TV has multiple HDMI inputs and also has a Digital Audio Optical OUT port, then you can simply plug the Firestick into an available HDMI port on the TV, and run an optical cable from the TV to the Optical IN port on your Bose Lifestyle 48.
2. If your TV has multiple HDMI inputs but doesn’t have an optical OUT port, then you’d need an audio extractor box (like this one https://www.amazon.com/Tendak-Extractor-Optical-TOSLINK-Converter/dp/B014F4HYKK for $28). Plug the Firestick into the extractor box, run an HDMI cable from the extractor box OUT port to an HDMI IN port on your TV, and run an optical cable from the extractor box to the Optical IN port on your Bose Lifestyle 48.
3. If your TV doesn’t have HDMI input ports, then you’d need a video/audio extractor box that can convert the digital video signal to analog (I’ll assume using the three RCA ports on your VS-1). But that box doesn’t have digital audio out (only left/right analog audio), so you’d still need the box in #2 above so you can send digital audio to your Bose audio system, but analog video to your TV. You’d connect the Firestick to the extractor box, run an optical cable from that to your Bose Lifetsyle 48, run an HDMI cable from the extractor box to a digital-to-analog video converter box (like https://www.amazon.com/Portta-Component-Converter-support-Channels/dp/B00A8FIQXA for $29), and run three RCA cables from that box to your VS-1.
I should also mention that HD copyright protection may have an impact on how well this is all going to work for you. The more components you put in-between your screen and speakers, the more problems you’ll find as the various devices authorize themselves to work with HDCP. That may require some power cycling of various parts in various orders to find the right combination that will ensure HDCP authorizes all the devices between your Firestick and the screen and speakers.
Hello Chris
I have the Onkyo Txsr607 and a Yamaha Rx-V677
Will either of these work with plugging my Fire Stick directly into the receiver. Right now I have it plugged into my tv. I’m really missing my surround sound. Please help/
Hi Aretha, your Onkyo receiver is fully capable of handling the Firestick, page 25 of its online manual (at http://www.intl.onkyo.com/downloads/manuals/pdf/tx-sr607_manual_e.pdf) says “Digital audio signals received by the HDMI IN jacks are output by the speakers and headphones connected to the AV receiver. Normally, they are not output by the HDMI OUT, unless the “Audio TV Out” setting is set to “On”
Your Yamaha receiver’s online manual (http://www.accessories4less.com/mas_assets/theme/accessories4less/images/manuals/Yamaha/RX-V777_RX-V677.pdf) page 25 seems to show that it too can work with the Firestick.
Some lower-cost receivers implement only ‘pass-thru’ circuitry for HDMI where the audio and video signals are passed directly from the HDMI IN ports to the HDMI OUT port. Both your receivers seem to have the more normal HDMI circuitry where the video signals are passed to the HDMI OUT port, and the audio signals are processed by the receiver and output to the connected surround sound speakers.
So plug the Firestick into an available HDMI IN port on either system and you should be able to see the video on a TV or projector connected to the receiver’s HDMI OUT port, and hear audio through the receiver’s connected surround sound speakers.
HI Chris
I want to plug both my Roku4 and my Amazon firestick to my LG 4K OLED 65 TV and my Bose Cinemate 520 and my Sky box. Right now I have my TV connected with Roku4 (HDMI4) and Skybox (HDMI1) with my Bose and it all works fine. The Roku is connected to the Bose with an optical cable and I can hear it on AUX on Bose.
I connected my Amazon Firestick to my TV at HDMI3. I can get picture but no sound
I do not have a connection with my TV and Bose directly so I cannot get sound on Live TV when I switch the Bose to the TV audio.
Based on your recommendation of plugging the Amazon FS to the Bose I would still need to get sound, how would that work? Thank you!
Hi Mandy, thanks for your question. Your standard home theater system should be connected as such:
1. The Bose receiver’s HDMI OUT port connected with a cable to one of your LG TV’s HDMI IN ports. That gets video from the receiver (and all connected components) to the TV. It will also pass audio from any components plugged into HDMI IN ports to the TV’s speakers (although you won’t need this since your Bose receiver has its own surround sound speakers).
2. All HDMI components should be connected directly to the Bose receiver’s HDMI IN ports (you have four, see the picture on page 15 of the backside of the Bose receiver). Your manual is available online at https://assets.bose.com/content/dam/Bose_DAM/Web/consumer_electronics/global/products/speakers/cinemate_520_home_theater_system/pdf/cinemate_520_PDF_ownersguide_MULTI.pdf. A component plugged into the receiver’s HDMI IN ports will have the video signal sent to the HDMI OUT port (to go to the TV), and the audio signal will be processed by the receiver and output to the attached surround sound speakers.
3. Connections between the various pieces of your home theater system are generally only one-way, meaning from an OUT port on one component to an IN port on another component. HDMI components pass both audio and video signals, while optical and coaxial cables only pass audio signals.
Hi Chris. I have a Denon 983 receiver and have been trying to get surround sound when my fire tv is using the HDMI on a newer 4K TV. If I connect the fire tv directly to the one of Denon’s red and white inputs, using this HDMI to AV converter, will that solve my problem?
Hi Walter, thanks for your question. Your older Denon receiver (see online manual at https://usa.denon.com/us/product/hometheater/receivers/avr983) doesn’t have HDMI capability, so you can’t connect the Fire TV to it directly. Your Fire TV only has HDMI and Digital Optical OUT ports.
Your Denon does have Digital Optical IN ports, so you can plug the Fire TV into the TV, and run an optical cable to the Denon to get surround sound.
You don’t need a converter, and you certainly wouldn’t want to use the red and white inputs since they’re only 2-channel stereo, not 5.1 surround sound.
If you had a Firestick (not the square Fire TV box), then I would suggest either an extractor box, or better yet, if your TV has a digital audio (optical) OUT port, then you could run the optical cable from TV to receiver.
Hi Chris,
I’m using an Onkyo as well, I don’t get video from my receiver with the firestick, and I really hope you can teach me a new trick here.
Onkyo TX-SR353.
A roku device works fine, but for some reason I get the audio for the fire stick, but no video. I did try to plug it directly into the HDMI port at the end, since the cable for power is kinda wonky and only goes one way. If I plug it into my BENQ projector, naturally I get video and audio, but I’m not going to get surround sound that way. Any Ideas? I don’t want to take the digital cable route because I need at least a 25 foot cable or longer to pull it off.
detail that might be an obvious miss was, I tried to plug it in for initial setup before hunting down a TV. But most video inputs usually auto detect so I don’t think that’ll be a problem, and climbing up to a hanging ceiling to test that is just a real pain at this point. Let me know if you need any further details or have any ideas for me.
Much appreciated.
HI Reid, thanks for your question. I’m guessing that you’ve connected an HDMI cable from the HDMI OUT port on Onkyo TX-SR353 to an available HDMI IN port on your BenQ projector. That gets the video signal from any connected component to the screen. These would be components you plug into the available HDMI IN ports on the Onkyo receiver, such as your Roku or Firestick.
Since you don’t tell me exactly how you have things hooked up, I can only guess. Based on what you’ve told me, it sounds like you might not have hooked up the Firestick correctly:
You need to plug both the FireStick’s HDMI into an available HDMI IN port on the Onkyo receiver and also plug in the MicroUSB power cable set that came with the Firestick from an available wall outlet into the Firestick. Without both those connections, your Firestick isn’t going to work correctly.
Hi Chris, I have a Panasonic smart TV model tc-58le64 and I have a fire stick connected to HDMI input3, I also have a optical cable for sound from the tv to an old receiver that has no HDMI connections.
my problem is that I don’t get 5.1 sound from the fire stick but if I use the built in Netflix or the Amazon app from the tv I get 5.1 sound without a problem.
To clarify I do get sound from the fire stick but not 5.1, so I am wondering if my problem is that I have to connect the fire stick in the HDMI label ARC or my only option would just be to buy a new receiver with HDMI ports.
Thanks in advance for your help
Hi Jorge, some Panasonic TVs lack the capability to output Dolby digital 5.1 audio from the optical output port. Some convert output to PCM and you may have to adjust your Firestick audio output settings. Also, not all programming coming from the Firestick is 5.1 digital audio – many older programs and movies weren’t encoded with surround sound. Any of these could be the reason you aren’t getting 5.1 audio.
Your receiver might have the capability to mimic surround sound even with 2-channel input. some receivers have a setting for that (Dolby Pro Logic circuitry).
Before you pop for a new receiver, I’d play a recent movie from the Firestick and check to see if 5.1 audio is coming through. And also check to see if your Firestick’s audio output is set to Dolby Automatic.
Hi Chris,
Well here’s what I have:
Samsung 6300 LED tv
Yamaha RX-V479 AV Receiver
(also have DISH and Samsung BLU ray input to receiver)
Have bookshelf speakers, polk center speaker, and subwoofer.
All are working fine and as they are supposed to.
Here’s what I absolutely cannot get to work. My dang Amazon Firestick.
I have in input to HDMI 3 on receiver. I can see it ever so briefly show up on the receiver display but it immediately moves right through it and I cannot get it to work. I turned everything off and on and gave it plenty of time to reset and communicate, nothing works. Ideas?
Chris, I didn’t make it clear, but I do have my dish and blu ray components input into hdmi ports to receiver, and receiver output to tv only (and speakers of course), as the Yamaha receiver is intended to be used. So I followed suit with inputting Firestick, assuming receiver would work the same way. It seems like it ever so briefly tries to send the signal, but then it is immediately dropped. HDMI cable instead of direct firestick connection to back of receiver? Thanks in advance for your help.
Hi Sharon, thanks for your question and for giving me the model numbers for your receiver and TV. I see nothing in the description you gave or the specifications of the receiver that would prevent you from seeing Firestick video on the TV and hearing Firestick audio from the receiver’s attached speakers. I am assuming that your Dish and Blu-ray players have a single HDMI cable connecting them to the receiver and no digital audio cable (optical or coaxial).
Should I assume from your description that you cannot get both video and audio from the Firestick? Or can you get one or the other only?
Assuming you’re getting neither, I see a few possible points of failure:
1. HDCP can be tricky to get right. Here’s what you should do: unplug the Firestick from the receiver. Turn the receiver on, and turn on the TV. Set the receiver to use one of the other HDMI inputs (like Dish or Blu-ray). Switch to the HDMI input the Firestick will use. Then plug in the Firestick.
When plugging in the Firestick, you need to make sure that you plug in the USB cable that came with it to a wall outlet and to the MicroUSB port on the side of the Firestick – as well as plugging the Firestick into an available HDMI port on the receiver. With all the other equipment already turned on, when you plug in the Firestick everything should exchange HDCP handshaking properly.
2. There may be a problem with the HDMI extension cable you’re using to connect the Firestick to the receiver. Try plugging the Firestick directly into the HDMI port to see if that works – if so then the extension cable is bad.
3. There may be a problem with that particular HDMI port on the receiver. Try plugging the Firestick into a different HDMI port (there are 6 in total on the backside of the receiver).
Fyi, I found your receiver manual online at https://usa.yamaha.com/files/download/other_assets/5/827225/web_YG906B0_EN1_RX-V479_RX-V579_om_UCRABGLFH_En.pdf
Many thanks Chris. I did get it to work. There does seem to be a little glitch in the “handshaking process” between receiver and firestick, I have yet to pinpoint the source but the solution seems to be powering off and starting over. After several “reintroductions” the receiver seems to finally decide to get along with the firestick and we proceed forward, although at a very slow pace of communicating. I did verify that the cable, port and stick are all working properly as suggested, and it does seem to be an HDCP issue. Your help very appreciated.
Hi Chris. I have just bought a SONY STR-DG920 7.1-Channel Audio/Video Receiver. I believe this is a ten year old receiver. My TV is a LG Plasma, Model # 50PT350-UD. Im trying to hook up a firestick to it. I tried connecting the firestick to the receiver and the receiver to the tv with a hdmi cable. I cant get a signal. Is there a workaround. Thank you so much!
Hi Robert, thanks for your question. Your Sony receiver manual is at https://docs.sony.com/release//STRDG920_EN.pdf and shows (page 25) that the receiver is perfectly capable of connecting HDMI components (to HDMI IN ports) and sending video to the HDMI OUT port (to the TV) and audio to the attached speakers.
When you say you connected with an HDMI cable, I have no idea which HDMI ports you connected to which cables to which components. HDMI ports on both receiver and TV are labeled, and you should connect:
1. the Firestick to an available HDMI IN port on the receiver. There are four, labeled SAT IN, BD IN, DVD IN, and VIDEO 1 IN. You can either plug the Firestick directly into one of these ports, or use the short HDMI cable.
Also, you need to plug the Firestick power brick into a wall outlet with the MicroUSB cable connecting that to the Firestick. The Firestick won’t work without this power attachment.
2. The receiver’s HDMI OUT port should be connected to an available HDMI IN port on the LG plasma TV (online manual at http://www.lg.com/us/support-product/lg-50PT350, one of the three HDMI IN ports).
Next, you need to turn on the TV, and set the Source to the HDMI IN port you connected in #2 above.
Then turn on the Sony receiver and set the source to the HDMI IN port you connected in #1 above.
You should see video from the Firestick on the TV screen, and hear audio (when you watch a movie or program) coming from the TV speakers and also from the receiver’s surround sound speakers. Turn the TV volume control all the way down to only use the surround sound system.
If you’re not getting anything, check your connections so they match the instructions above. There is no “workaround” needed. It may be that you didn’t power up the equipment to allow HDCP (HD copyright protection) circuitry to exchange between the various components. If this is the case, make sure everything is connected and turned on as per above, then unplug the Firestick from the HDMI port (and also unplug its MicroUSB power), wait 30 seconds, then plug in the electrical power and then the HDMI connection. That should re-start the HDCP handshaking to allow Firestick content to play through the receiver to the TV and speakers.
Hi, I followed your steps correctly. When I switch the Firestick to the BD or SAT Hdmi ports I get the amazon logo in the center of the screen for three seconds, but then nothing. I wonder what could be wrong.
Hmm, one possible clue: “amazon log in the center of the screen for three seconds” – it may be that the Firestick is not set to use the correct video resolution for your TV.
Try plugging the Firestick directly into an HDMI port on the TV. If you get the video screen, you can either run through all the settings to make sure they are correct, or just reset the Firestick back to factory settings (Settings > System > reset to factory). If you can’t get the Firestick screen to display, you can restart the Firestick using the remote by: pressing and holding the Select and Play/Pause buttons at the same time, for about five seconds.
If you are using a used & altered Firestick (such as with the Kodi software installed), then all bets are off. My help is designed for a standard Firestick only.
The Firestick comes from the factory set to automatically adjust its settings to match your system. If you previously changed those settings, or if you bought your Firestick used, then it’s possible you got a bum deal. I’m just throwing out guesses now, because for your receiver and TV, unless you changed settings from the default on those or on your Firestick, it should work fine.
Hi Chris,
I know there’s a large amount of discussion on this topic of people having issues getting their surround sound system to work with their firestick. I’ve looked through them all and am still at a loss as to why I can’t get mine functioning. I have an older 5.1 Samsung Home Theater System (Model: HT-WX70) as well as a old 61″ Samsung DLP HDTV (Model: HLT6156WX/Xaa).
I’ve troubleshooted endlessly and have found when I directly connect my firestick to the receiver through HDMI, the picture on the TV is distorted. So the receiver is deteriorating but it still plays sound real well. Therefore I’ve been trying to only get audio from my receiver by connecting the firestick to the TV HDMI port and running a digital output optical cable from the TV to the digital input of the receiver. I’ve proven that the optical cable is good by testing it through an old Xbox and it plays 5.1 Dolby digital sound. And there is definitely a signal being carried from the TV optical cable end since the red beam illuminates from the opposite end. I’ve tried muting my TV speakers as well as selecting through all of the audio settings within the firestick menu (Dolby Digital Plus Automatic, etc). But still I get zero sound coming from my system.
Besides shopping for a new receiver or going a different route with speakers and systems, does anyone have any other ideas as to why i can’t get sound? I can’t help but think its one small detail or setting adjustment that will do the trick.
Thanks for any insight
Hi Eric, thanks for your question and detailed info. It sounds like you’ve taken all the steps I’d have suggested, and am assuming you have a digital optical cable going from the TV’s Digital Optical OUT port to the receiver’s Optical IN port, and have pressed the remote button AUX to select Digital IN.
Your TV’s manual (found one online at http://www.manualsdir.com/manuals/421137/samsung-hlt6756wx-xaa-hlt6156wx-xaa.html?page=16) suggests that the digital optical output is always on and exporting 5.1 audio from the TV. Your receiver’s manual (found one online at http://samsung.6c0.net/man/2199/HT_WX70_User_Manual__ver_1_0_/12) gives the directions on page 22 for pressing the AUX button (probably repeatedly to cycle through the options) to select Digital Input. And your Firestick’s audio output setting of Dolby Digital Plus (Automatic) will ensure that your Firestick outputs 5.1 audio.
The only potential issue I can think of is with Digital Rights Management (DRM) and/or HD Copyright Protection (HDCP). These protocols are intended to prevent pirating digital media, but more often get in the way of legitimate use of said digital media. What happens is when you power on DRM/HDCP-capable devices, they exchange signals with each other (I call it ‘handshaking’) to verify that each is authorized to handle the protected media.
Because this handshaking occurs when you power up your devices, the order in which you power them up and the timing of the powering up can have an impact on the ability of the devices to successfully complete the handshaking process. Particularly flaky are older electronics that use older specifications of these copyright protections in their circuitry and firmware. Sometimes these devices are designed to only kick off the handshaking protocol when powered up, and sometimes anytime they are connected to another piece of equipment
The things to try are to unplug electrical power from everything, connect it all, and then power everything up at the same time (easier if you plug all equipment into the same power strip/surge protector). Also, you can try powering in various orders, such Firestick>TV>receiver, or receiver>TV>Firestick. Turning your TV or receiver off may not do it as many are designed to be in standby mode when turned off (so they can come on quickly) – so unplugging is the best way to make sure the device is really powered off.
Let’s assume you plug the Firestick into the TV and hear audio from the TV speakers. That means that the TV and Firestick have successfully completed the HDCP handshaking process. If you then plug the audio cable into the receiver and switch the receiver to Digital IN, the TV and receiver should exchange HDCP, and audio should sound. But if it doesn’t, you can leave the Firestick and TV going and leave the optical cable plugged into the receiver. De-power the receiver, wait a good 30-60 seconds and re-power the receiver. Turn it on and set it to Digital IN (if not already) and the HDCP handshaking process should complete and you should start hearing Firestick audio from the receiver’s speakers.
If none of this works, then you really need a professional on-site, there’s only so much anyone can do without a physical diagnosis.
Hi Chris,
I have sony TV with MODEL Number: KLV-40R482B and it has 2 HDMI ports. I have sony Blu Ray home theater BDV-E3200. My home theater has only one HDMI Port. I want to connect Amazon Firestick to TV and get the sound from home theater.
I tried connecting firestick to one of the HDMI ports on TV and the other HDMI port of TV is connected to home theater. But sound does not come via Home theater. Could you please suggest how this issue can be resolved ?
Hi Mohit, as you can see from all the comments, you are not alone trying to get your home theater system to work with the Firestick. In your case, your Sony Blu-Ray player home theater is not a general-purpose receiver, so it has limited capability to accept input from other components.
First thing you need to know is that connecting home theater equipment together generally means that one cable connection goes in one direction only. So your HDMI cable from the Blu-Ray player only sends video to the TV. Since the Blu-Ray player doesn’t have an HDMI IN port, you can’t plug the Firestick into it. So you’re plugging the Firestick into one of the HDMI IN ports on the TV. Now you have to get audio from the TV OUT to the Blu-Ray Player (which has a digital optical audio IN port).
If your TV has an optical audio OUT port, you only need to connect a digital optical audio cable from the TV’s OUT port to the Blu-Ray’s IN port and you’ll get sound from the attached Firestick playing through your surround sound speakers (when the Blu-Ray player is set to use the optical input as source).
I note there is a troubleshooting page at Sony (https://www.sony.co.in/electronics/support/articles/00027069) that hints there might be problems with the digital optical audio OUT port of the TV. If that’s your situation (or if your particular model of TV doesn’t have a digital optical audio OUT port), then you’ll need a converter box that has an HDMI IN port (where you plug the Firestick) and has both an HDMI OUT port (where you connect an HDMI cable to the TV’s HDMI IN port) and a digital optical audio OUT port (where you connect an optical cable to the Blu-Ray player’s IN port).
If you need a converter like that, here’s one I’ve mentioned to other commenters above: https://www.amazon.com/Tendak-Optical-Extractor-Converter-Splitter/dp/B00Y0920B4. If you aren’t in the USA, you’ll have to search locally for a box that extracts digital audio from an HDMI signal and sends it via optical cable. So you’ll need to have a converter box, a digital optical audio cable, and an HDMI cable to complete the physical connection.
I looked up an online manual for your BDV-E3200 Blu-Ray player (https://www.manualslib.com/manual/1046027/Sony-Bdv-E3200.html?page=17#manual) and shows that it does have a digital optical audio input you can use. The HDMI port on it is only for sending video to the TV.
I looked up an online manual for your KLV-40R482B TV (https://www.manualslib.com/products/Sony-Klv-40r482b-3608850.html) which shows that it has two HDMI IN ports, so I assume you have the Firestick plugged into one and the HDMI cable from the Blu-Ray player plugged into the other. That manual doesn’t specifically show your TV as having a digital optical audio OUT port, but the troubleshooting reference above hints that there is one. You’ll need to verify by looking at all the ports on the back and sides of the TV. Google “digital optical audio port” to see images of what one looks like. If it has one, buy just the optical cable and see if it works. If it doesn’t work or you don’t have an optical port on the back of the TV, you’ll need to also buy the converter box and an HDMI cable.
Thanks Chris for providing the solution. My TV did not had optical port. So by using the converter box that you mentioned have resolved my issue. Thanks a lot !!!!.
Happy to help, Mohit!
Hello Chris,
I have reviewed every solution in your comment section but none of it seems to work. I have a Sharp LC-26sb27ut TV and a Coby DVD925 receiver/DVD/DVR player with no HDMI. I have both manuals but I haven’t found the necessary information (I need details they don’t provide) to connect firestick to surround. I have two HDMI ports on the TV. I’ve tried the coaxial digital audio from the tv to the receiver, plus ARC. These show separate inputs on the TV so I’m not sure if that’s the problem or I need something else. I don’t have optical ports on either of them.
HI Bonnie, could you take a picture of the backside of your Coby DVD925 and either upload it or send it to me at support@positek.net? I’m guessing there’s an optical or coaxial input port for digital audio. If so, you’d get one of the audio extractor boxes I’ve suggested and plug the Firestick into that, then plug the box’s HDMI output into the TV and run a digital audio cable (optical or coaxial) from the extractor box to the Coby DVD925.
The box I suggested above to Mohit would work for you: https://www.amazon.com/Tendak-Optical-Extractor-Converter-Splitter/dp/B00Y0920B4. That and an optical cable that will reach to your receiver are all you need. If your receiver doesn’t have any digital inputs, the same box can run stereo audio to your receiver. If your receiver has a coaxial input port, then you could use this box: https://www.amazon.com/Expert-Connect-Extractor-Coaxial-Optical/dp/B073SFZMPF.
Hi Chris. Same problem, different circumstances. Have an old Yamaha HTR-5830 receiver. And 2nd gen Fire TV stick. Please tell me what I need to purchase to get surround sound when using the Fire stick. Thank you so much all your responses, I really appreciate your help.
Hi Janet, I’ve written several articles on this, and in the comments above – your circumstances aren’t that unique. Your receiver has optical input ports for digital audio, so you would need an HDMI digital audio extractor box. Plug the Firestick into the extractor box and plug the HDMI Out from the extractor box to your TV, and run a digital audio (optical) cable from the extractor box to your receiver.
The box I suggested above to Mohit would work for you: https://www.amazon.com/Tendak-Optical-Extractor-Converter-Splitter/dp/B00Y0920B4. That and an optical cable that will reach to your receiver are all you need.
I have a Yamaha rxv677 7.2 and need the firestick to run through both zones 1 and 2 zone 1 is a breeze but I can’t seem to get zone 2 to work any help is greatly appreciated
Your online manual, https://europe.yamaha.com/files/download/other_assets/2/331522/web_YG105B0_EN_RX-V777_RX-V677_om_UCRABGLFH_En.pdf on page 78 says that only the RX-V777 can use what Yamaha calls “party mode” to play the same source through both zones 1 and 2. The model of receiver you purchased doesn’t have that capability.
It is possible to do what you want, but you’ll have to buy additional equipment. You’ll need an extractor box to take the audio from the Firestick so you can feed it through a digital optical cable into a separate input on the receiver. Then play the Firestick audio (coming through the HDMI directly from the Firestick through the extractor box and to the HDMI port on the receiver) out Zone 1, and play the Firestick audio (coming through the digital optical cable from the extractor box with the Firestick attached) out Zone 2. There may be a slight timing issue between the two audio signals since they’re taking different paths through the circuitry, but you’ll get audio from the Firestick through both zones on your receiver.
thank you Chris will try extractor and let you know
Hi Chris. I just bought a Fire Stick and am having the same problems. I have an older TV (Samsung LN46A550P3F) and an even older home theater system (JVC TH-M505). Thank you for any help that you can provide.
Hi Tony, your TV has HDMI input ports and an optical audio output port, so the only thing you should need to buy is a digital optical cable to reach from the TV to the receiver.
Your TV’s online manual is at http://downloadcenter.samsung.com/content/UM/200803/20080322131025171_BN68-01392B-00L02-0227.pdf and shows a diagram on page 4 with the locations of the HDMI inputs and the optical output.
Your receiver’s online manual is at http://resources.jvc.com/Resources/00/00/95/LVT1147-001C.pdf and shows a diagram on page 5 with the location of the optical input port.
Here’s what you do:
1. connect the digital audio cable from the TV’s OUT port to the receiver’s IN port. Turn on the TV and the receiver system. If you don’t hear the TV audio through your surround sound speakers, you’ll need to switch inputs on the remote to select DBS (see page 19).
2. Plug the Firestick into one of the TV’s HDMI IN ports and plug the power adapter (that came with it) into a wall outlet and the MicroUSB port on the side of the Firestick.
3. Using the TV remote, switch to the Input source matching the HDMI port you used for the Firestick.
4. Using the Firestick remote, navigate the Firestick system. When playing content from the Firestick, you should hear audio through your surround sound speakers.
Using a Sony STR-K7100 and have the digital optical installed but can’t get all the speakers and sub to work at the same time. Any thoughts??
Hi Leonard, thanks for your question. Your online manual is at https://docs.sony.com/release//HT7100DH.pdf. Your receiver is part of the Sony HT-7100DH home theater system.
When you say “… and sub” do you mean the sub-woofer? That particular speaker almost certainly has its own power supply. In addition to connecting the coaxial cable from receiver to sub-woofer, you also have to plug the sub-woofer into electrical power and turn it on (power rocker switch probably on the backside). There may also be a volume control on the sub-woofer you can turn up or down to control the intensity of the output.
Oh, and a loose connection can cause the sub-woofer not to work. Since the sub-woofer has a lot more vibration than normal, it’s quite possible the coaxial connection has gotten loose.
Please note that the sub-woofer output is generally non-directional, meaning that you won’t hear sound from it the same as the other speakers. Also, the sub-woofer may be working, but whatever you’re watching isn’t putting out a strong (or any) sub-woofer audio. Lots of (esp. older) TV programs and other video content were recorded with simple stereo (2-channel) audio instead of full 5.1 surround sound audio. Try playing a movie (like a Transformers movie) that has strong 5.1 audio, and with the volume up you should feel as much as hear the effects of explosions, etc. – that’s the sub-woofer working.
Your receiver will try to ‘fake’ 5.1 surround sound even when it only gets a 2-channel stereo signal, but that is a ghost of true 5.1 audio.
Lastly, I’m assuming you connected all the speakers according to the setup guide (online at https://docs.sony.com/release//HT7100DH_guide.pdf). In particular, I see that there are both A and B speaker connections on the back of the receiver. You should be using the A set of connection ports (unless you have a second set of front speakers connected to the B ports).
There’s a button on the front of the receiver that lets you cycle between speaker selections (Off/A/B/A+B) in case you connected front speakers to the B ports and rear speakers to the A ports. If you connected the front speakers to the B ports and all the other speakers to the A ports, then you’ll need to set the speaker selection on A+B to hear sound from all the speakers.